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class="topic-left-rail md-article-drawer position-relative d-flex border-right-sm border-left-sm open"> <div class="drawer d-flex flex-column open"> <div class="left-rail-section-content"> <div class="topic-left-rail-header text-truncate bg-gray-50 position-relative text-right d-flex align-items-center"> <div class="tlr-title px-20 py-15 text-left"> <em class="material-icons text-gray-400 d-lg-none" data-icon="toc"></em> <a class="font-serif font-weight-bold text-black link-blue" href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/history-of-France">history of France</a> </div> <button aria-label="Close" class="js-sections-close-button btn-link btn-sm btn d-lg-none position-absolute top-0 p-10 right-0" > <em class="material-icons font-26" data-icon="close"></em> </button> </div> <div class="section-content pl-10 pr-20 pl-sm-50 pr-sm-60 pl-lg-5 pr-lg-10 pt-10 pt-lg-0 bg-gray-50 clear-catfish-ad"> <div class="toc mb-20"> <div class="font-serif font-14 font-weight-bold mx-15 mb-15 mt-20"> Table of Contents </div> <ul class="list-unstyled my-0" data-level="h1"><li data-target="#ref1"><div class="pl-25"><a class="link-gray-900 w-100" href="/topic/history-of-France">Introduction</a></div><div class="ml-40 toc-drawer sub-toc-drawer"></div></li><li data-target="#ref361865"><div class="d-flex align-items-center"><button class="h1-link-drawer-button btn btn-xs btn-circle d-flex rounded" type="button" aria-label="Toggle Heading"><em class="material-icons font-18" data-icon="keyboard_arrow_right"></em></button><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France#ref361865">Gaul</a></div><div class="ml-40 toc-drawer sub-toc-drawer"><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref361866"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France#ref361866">Geographic-historical scope</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref361867"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France#ref361867">People</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref361868"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France#ref361868">Roman conquest</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref361869"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France#ref361869">Gaul under the high empire (c. 50 <span class="text-smallcaps">bce</span>–c. 250 <span class="text-smallcaps">ce</span>)</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref361870"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France#ref361870">Gaul under the late Roman Empire (c. 250–c. 400)</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref361871"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France#ref361871">The end of Roman Gaul (c. 400–c. 500)</a></li></ul></div></li><li data-target="#ref361872"><div class="d-flex align-items-center"><button class="h1-link-drawer-button btn btn-xs btn-circle d-flex rounded" type="button" aria-label="Toggle Heading"><em class="material-icons font-18" data-icon="keyboard_arrow_right"></em></button><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France#ref361872">Merovingian and Carolingian age</a></div><div class="ml-40 toc-drawer sub-toc-drawer"><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref361873"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France#ref361873">Origins</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref361874"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France#ref361874">Early Frankish period</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref361875"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France#ref361875">Gaul and Germany at the end of the 5th century</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref361876"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France#ref361876">The Merovingians</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref361877" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France#ref361877">Clovis and the unification of Gaul</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref361878"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France#ref361878">Frankish expansion</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref361879"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France#ref361879">Conversion of Clovis</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref361880" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France#ref361880">The sons of Clovis</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref361881"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France#ref361881">Conquest of Burgundy</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref361882"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France#ref361882">Conquest of southern Germany</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref361883" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France#ref361883">The grandsons of Clovis</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref361884"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France#ref361884">Shrinking of the frontiers and peripheral areas</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref361885"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France#ref361885">Parceling of the kingdom</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref361886" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France#ref361886">The failure of reunification (613–714)</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref361887"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France#ref361887">Chlotar II and Dagobert I</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref361888"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France#ref361888">The hegemony of Neustria</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref361889"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France#ref361889">Austrasian hegemony and the rise of the Pippinids</a></li></ul></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref361890"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France#ref361890">The Carolingians</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref361891" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France#ref361891">Charles Martel and Pippin III</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref361892"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France#ref361892">Charles Martel</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref361893"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France#ref361893">Pippin III</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref361894" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France#ref361894">Charlemagne</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref361895"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France#ref361895">The conquests</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref361896"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France#ref361896">The restoration of the empire</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref361897"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France#ref361897">Louis I</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref361898" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France#ref361898">The partitioning of the Carolingian empire</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref361899"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France#ref361899">The Treaty of Verdun</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref361900"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France#ref361900">The kingdoms created at Verdun</a></li></ul></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref361901"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France#ref361901">The Frankish world</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref361902" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France#ref361902">Society</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref361903"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France#ref361903">Germans and Gallo-Romans</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref361904"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France#ref361904">Social classes</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref361905"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France#ref361905">Diffusion of political power</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref361906" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France#ref361906">Institutions</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref361907"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France#ref361907">Kingship</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref361908"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France#ref361908">The central government</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref361909"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France#ref361909">Local institutions</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref361910"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France#ref361910">The development of institutions in the Carolingian age</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref361911" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France#ref361911">Economic life</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref361912"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France#ref361912">Trade</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref361913"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France#ref361913">Frankish fiscal law</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref361914" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France#ref361914">The church</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref361915"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France#ref361915">Institutions</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref361916"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France#ref361916">Monasticism</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref361917"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France#ref361917">Education</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref361918"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France#ref361918">Religious discipline and piety</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref361919"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France#ref361919">Church influence on society and legislation</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref361920"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France#ref361920">Merovingian literature and arts</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref361921"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France#ref361921">Carolingian literature and arts</a></li></ul></li></ul></div></li><li data-target="#ref361922"><div class="d-flex align-items-center"><button class="h1-link-drawer-button btn btn-xs btn-circle d-flex rounded" type="button" aria-label="Toggle Heading"><em class="material-icons font-18" data-icon="keyboard_arrow_right"></em></button><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France/The-emergence-of-France">The emergence of France</a></div><div class="ml-40 toc-drawer sub-toc-drawer"><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref361923"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France/The-emergence-of-France#ref361923">French society in the early Middle Ages</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref361924"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France/The-emergence-of-France#ref361924">Political history of France (c. 850–1180)</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref361925"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France/The-emergence-of-France#ref361925">Principalities north of the Loire</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref361926"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France/The-emergence-of-France#ref361926">Principalities of the south</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref361927"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France/The-emergence-of-France#ref361927">The monarchy</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref361928" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France/The-emergence-of-France#ref361928">Economy, society, and culture in the Middle Ages (c. 900–1300)</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref361929"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France/The-emergence-of-France#ref361929">Economic expansion</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref361930"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France/The-emergence-of-France#ref361930">Urban prosperity</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref361931"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France/The-emergence-of-France#ref361931">Rural society</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref361932" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France/The-emergence-of-France#ref361932">Religious and cultural life</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref361933"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France/The-emergence-of-France#ref361933">The age of cathedrals and Scholasticism</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref361934"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France/The-emergence-of-France#ref361934">Culture and learning</a></li></ul></li></ul></li></ul></div></li><li data-target="#ref361935"><div class="d-flex align-items-center"><button class="h1-link-drawer-button btn btn-xs btn-circle d-flex rounded" type="button" aria-label="Toggle Heading"><em class="material-icons font-18" data-icon="keyboard_arrow_right"></em></button><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France/France-1180-to-c-1490">France, 1180 to c. 1490</a></div><div class="ml-40 toc-drawer sub-toc-drawer"><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref361936"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France/France-1180-to-c-1490#ref361936">France from 1180 to 1328</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref361937" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France/France-1180-to-c-1490#ref361937">Kings and the royal government</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref361938"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France/France-1180-to-c-1490#ref361938">Philip Augustus</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref361939"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France/France-1180-to-c-1490#ref361939">Louis VIII</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref361940"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France/France-1180-to-c-1490#ref361940">Louis IX</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref361941"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France/France-1180-to-c-1490#ref361941">Later Capetians</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref361942"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France/France-1180-to-c-1490#ref361942">Foreign relations</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref361943"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France/France-1180-to-c-1490#ref361943">Period of the Hundred Years’ War</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref361944" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France/France-1180-to-c-1490#ref361944">Kings and the war, 1328–1429</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref361945"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France/France-1180-to-c-1490#ref361945">Philip VI</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref361946"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France/France-1180-to-c-1490#ref361946">John the Good</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref361947"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France/France-1180-to-c-1490#ref361947">Charles V</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref361948"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France/France-1180-to-c-1490#ref361948">Charles VI</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref361949"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France/France-1180-to-c-1490#ref361949">Charles VII</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref361950" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France/France-1180-to-c-1490#ref361950">Recovery and reunification, 1429–83</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref361951"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France/France-1180-to-c-1490#ref361951">Governmental reforms</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref361952"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France/France-1180-to-c-1490#ref361952">Military reforms</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref361953"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France/France-1180-to-c-1490#ref361953">Regrowth of the French monarchy</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref361954" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France/France-1180-to-c-1490#ref361954">Economy, society, and culture in the 14th and 15th centuries</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref361955"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France/France-1180-to-c-1490#ref361955">Economic distress</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref361956"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France/France-1180-to-c-1490#ref361956">Cities</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref361957"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France/France-1180-to-c-1490#ref361957">The church</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref361958"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France/France-1180-to-c-1490#ref361958">Culture and art</a></li></ul></li></ul></li></ul></div></li><li data-target="#ref361959"><div class="d-flex align-items-center"><button class="h1-link-drawer-button btn btn-xs btn-circle d-flex rounded" type="button" aria-label="Toggle Heading"><em class="material-icons font-18" data-icon="keyboard_arrow_right"></em></button><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France/France-1490-1715">France, 1490–1715</a></div><div class="ml-40 toc-drawer sub-toc-drawer"><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref361960"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France/France-1490-1715#ref361960">France in the 16th century</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref361961"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France/France-1490-1715#ref361961">Military and financial organization</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref361962"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France/France-1490-1715#ref361962">Growth of a professional bureaucracy</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref361963"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France/France-1490-1715#ref361963">Age of the Reformation</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref361964"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France/France-1490-1715#ref361964">The Wars of Religion</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref361965"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France/France-1490-1715#ref361965">Political ideology</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref361966"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France/France-1490-1715#ref361966">France in the early 17th century</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref361967"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France/France-1490-1715#ref361967">Henry IV</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref361968"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France/France-1490-1715#ref361968">Louis XIII</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref361969"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France/France-1490-1715#ref361969">The Fronde</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref361970"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France/France-1490-1715#ref361970">The age of Louis XIV</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref361971"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France/France-1490-1715#ref361971">The development of central government</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref361972"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France/France-1490-1715#ref361972">Louis’s religious policy</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref361973"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France/France-1490-1715#ref361973">Absolutism of Louis</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref361974"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France/France-1490-1715#ref361974">Foreign affairs</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref361975"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France/France-1490-1715#ref361975">French culture in the 17th century</a></li></ul></div></li><li data-target="#ref361976"><div class="d-flex align-items-center"><button class="h1-link-drawer-button btn btn-xs btn-circle d-flex rounded" type="button" aria-label="Toggle Heading"><em class="material-icons font-18" data-icon="keyboard_arrow_right"></em></button><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France/France-1715-89">France, 1715–89</a></div><div class="ml-40 toc-drawer sub-toc-drawer"><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref361977"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France/France-1715-89#ref361977">Social and political heritage</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref361978"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France/France-1715-89#ref361978">Social order of the ancien régime</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref361979"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France/France-1715-89#ref361979">Monarchy and church</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref361980"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France/France-1715-89#ref361980">Commitment to modernization</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref361981"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France/France-1715-89#ref361981">Continuity and change</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref361982"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France/France-1715-89#ref361982">Agricultural patterns</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref361983"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France/France-1715-89#ref361983">Industrial production</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref361984"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France/France-1715-89#ref361984">Commerce</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref361985"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France/France-1715-89#ref361985">Cities</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref361986"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France/France-1715-89#ref361986">Cultural transformation</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref361987"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France/France-1715-89#ref361987">The Enlightenment</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref361988"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France/France-1715-89#ref361988">Influence of Montesquieu and Rousseau</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref361989"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France/France-1715-89#ref361989">Political response</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref361990"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France/France-1715-89#ref361990">Historical debate</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref361991"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France/France-1715-89#ref361991">Foreign policy and financial crisis</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref361992"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France/France-1715-89#ref361992">Domestic policy and reform efforts</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref361993"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France/France-1715-89#ref361993">Tax reform</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref361994"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France/France-1715-89#ref361994"><em>Parlements</em></a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref361995"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France/France-1715-89#ref361995">King and <em>parlements</em></a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref361996"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France/France-1715-89#ref361996">Causes of the French Revolution</a></li></ul></div></li><li data-target="#ref361997"><div class="d-flex align-items-center"><button class="h1-link-drawer-button btn btn-xs btn-circle d-flex rounded" type="button" aria-label="Toggle Heading"><em class="material-icons font-18" data-icon="keyboard_arrow_right"></em></button><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France/The-French-Revolution-and-Napoleon-1789-1815">The French Revolution and Napoleon, 1789–1815</a></div><div class="ml-40 toc-drawer sub-toc-drawer"><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref361998"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France/The-French-Revolution-and-Napoleon-1789-1815#ref361998">The destruction of the ancien régime</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref361999" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France/The-French-Revolution-and-Napoleon-1789-1815#ref361999">The convergence of revolutions, 1789</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref362000"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France/The-French-Revolution-and-Napoleon-1789-1815#ref362000">The juridical revolution</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref362001"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France/The-French-Revolution-and-Napoleon-1789-1815#ref362001">Parisian revolt</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref362002"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France/The-French-Revolution-and-Napoleon-1789-1815#ref362002">Peasant insurgencies</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref362003"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France/The-French-Revolution-and-Napoleon-1789-1815#ref362003">The abolition of feudalism</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref362004" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France/The-French-Revolution-and-Napoleon-1789-1815#ref362004">The new regime</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref362005"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France/The-French-Revolution-and-Napoleon-1789-1815#ref362005">Restructuring France</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref362006"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France/The-French-Revolution-and-Napoleon-1789-1815#ref362006">Sale of national lands</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref362007" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France/The-French-Revolution-and-Napoleon-1789-1815#ref362007">Seeds of discord</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref362008"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France/The-French-Revolution-and-Napoleon-1789-1815#ref362008">Religious tensions</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref362009"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France/The-French-Revolution-and-Napoleon-1789-1815#ref362009">Political tensions</a></li></ul></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref362010"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France/The-French-Revolution-and-Napoleon-1789-1815#ref362010">The First French Republic</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref362011"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France/The-French-Revolution-and-Napoleon-1789-1815#ref362011">The second revolution</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref362012"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France/The-French-Revolution-and-Napoleon-1789-1815#ref362012">A republic in crisis</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref362013"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France/The-French-Revolution-and-Napoleon-1789-1815#ref362013">Girondins and Montagnards</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref362014"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France/The-French-Revolution-and-Napoleon-1789-1815#ref362014">The Reign of Terror</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref362015"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France/The-French-Revolution-and-Napoleon-1789-1815#ref362015">The Jacobin dictatorship</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref362016"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France/The-French-Revolution-and-Napoleon-1789-1815#ref362016">The Army of the Republic</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref362017"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France/The-French-Revolution-and-Napoleon-1789-1815#ref362017">The Thermidorian Reaction</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref362018" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France/The-French-Revolution-and-Napoleon-1789-1815#ref362018">The Directory</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref362019"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France/The-French-Revolution-and-Napoleon-1789-1815#ref362019">Sister republics</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref362020"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France/The-French-Revolution-and-Napoleon-1789-1815#ref362020">Alienation and coups</a></li></ul></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref362021"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France/The-French-Revolution-and-Napoleon-1789-1815#ref362021">The Napoleonic era</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref362022"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France/The-French-Revolution-and-Napoleon-1789-1815#ref362022">The Consulate</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref362023"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France/The-French-Revolution-and-Napoleon-1789-1815#ref362023">Loss of political freedom</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref362024" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France/The-French-Revolution-and-Napoleon-1789-1815#ref362024">Society in Napoleonic France</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref362025"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France/The-French-Revolution-and-Napoleon-1789-1815#ref362025">Religious policy</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref362026"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France/The-French-Revolution-and-Napoleon-1789-1815#ref362026">Napoleonic nobility</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref362027"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France/The-French-Revolution-and-Napoleon-1789-1815#ref362027">The civil code</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref362028"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France/The-French-Revolution-and-Napoleon-1789-1815#ref362028">Campaigns and conquests, 1797–1807</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref362029"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France/The-French-Revolution-and-Napoleon-1789-1815#ref362029">The Grand Empire</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref362030"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France/The-French-Revolution-and-Napoleon-1789-1815#ref362030">The Continental System</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref362031"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France/The-French-Revolution-and-Napoleon-1789-1815#ref362031">Conscription</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref362032"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France/The-French-Revolution-and-Napoleon-1789-1815#ref362032">Napoleon and the Revolution</a></li></ul></div></li><li data-target="#ref362033"><div class="d-flex align-items-center"><button class="h1-link-drawer-button btn btn-xs btn-circle d-flex rounded" type="button" aria-label="Toggle Heading"><em class="material-icons font-18" data-icon="keyboard_arrow_right"></em></button><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France/France-1815-1940">France, 1815–1940</a></div><div class="ml-40 toc-drawer sub-toc-drawer"><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref362034"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France/France-1815-1940#ref362034">The restoration and constitutional monarchy</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref362035" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France/France-1815-1940#ref362035">Constitutionalism and reaction, 1815–30</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref362036"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France/France-1815-1940#ref362036">Louis XVIII, 1815–24</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref362037"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France/France-1815-1940#ref362037">Charles X, 1824–30</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref362038"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France/France-1815-1940#ref362038">The revolution of 1830</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref362039"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France/France-1815-1940#ref362039">The July Monarchy</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref362040"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France/France-1815-1940#ref362040">The Second Republic and Second Empire</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref362041"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France/France-1815-1940#ref362041">The revolution of 1848</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref362042"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France/France-1815-1940#ref362042">The Second Republic, 1848–52</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref362043" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France/France-1815-1940#ref362043">The Second Empire, 1852–70</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref362044"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France/France-1815-1940#ref362044">The authoritarian years</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref362045"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France/France-1815-1940#ref362045">The liberal years</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref362046"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France/France-1815-1940#ref362046">The Franco-German War</a></li></ul></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref362047"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France/France-1815-1940#ref362047">The Third Republic</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref362048"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France/France-1815-1940#ref362048">The Commune of Paris</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref362049" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France/France-1815-1940#ref362049">The formative years (1871–1905)</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref362050"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France/France-1815-1940#ref362050">Attempts at a restoration</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref362051"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France/France-1815-1940#ref362051">The constitution of the Third Republic</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref362052"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France/France-1815-1940#ref362052">Republican factions</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref362053"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France/France-1815-1940#ref362053">Opportunist control</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref362054"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France/France-1815-1940#ref362054">The Dreyfus Affair</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref362055"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France/France-1815-1940#ref362055">Foreign policy</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref362056"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France/France-1815-1940#ref362056">Prewar years</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref362057"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France/France-1815-1940#ref362057">World War I</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref362058" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France/France-1815-1940#ref362058">Interwar years</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref362059"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France/France-1815-1940#ref362059">German reparations</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref362060"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France/France-1815-1940#ref362060">Financial crisis</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref362061"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France/France-1815-1940#ref362061">Collective security</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref362062"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France/France-1815-1940#ref362062">Internal conflict on the left</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref362063"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France/France-1815-1940#ref362063">The Great Depression and political crises</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref362064"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France/France-1815-1940#ref362064">German aggressions</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref362065" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France/France-1815-1940#ref362065">Society and culture under the Third Republic</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref362066"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France/France-1815-1940#ref362066">Economy</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref362067"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France/France-1815-1940#ref362067">Cultural and scientific attainments</a></li></ul></li></ul></li></ul></div></li><li data-target="#ref362068"><div class="d-flex align-items-center"><button class="h1-link-drawer-button btn btn-xs btn-circle d-flex rounded" type="button" aria-label="Toggle Heading"><em class="material-icons font-18" data-icon="keyboard_arrow_right"></em></button><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France/France-since-1940">France since 1940</a></div><div class="ml-40 toc-drawer sub-toc-drawer"><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref362069"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France/France-since-1940#ref362069">Wartime France</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref362070"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France/France-since-1940#ref362070">The Vichy government</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref362071"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France/France-since-1940#ref362071">The Resistance</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref362072"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France/France-since-1940#ref362072">Liberation</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref362073"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France/France-since-1940#ref362073">The Fourth Republic</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref362074"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France/France-since-1940#ref362074">Constitution of the Fourth Republic</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref362075"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France/France-since-1940#ref362075">Political and social changes</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref362076"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France/France-since-1940#ref362076">Colonial independence movements</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref362077"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France/France-since-1940#ref362077">The Fifth Republic</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref362078"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France/France-since-1940#ref362078">France after de Gaulle</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref362079"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France/France-since-1940#ref362079">France under a Socialist presidency</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref362080"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France/France-since-1940#ref362080">Mitterrand’s first term</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref362081"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France/France-since-1940#ref362081">Mitterrand’s second term</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref362082"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France/France-since-1940#ref362082">France under conservative presidencies</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref362083"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France/France-since-1940#ref362083">The Chirac administration</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref362084"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France/France-since-1940#ref362084">The Sarkozy administration</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref362085"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France/France-since-1940#ref362085">The euro-zone crisis and the Socialist resurgence</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref362086"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France/France-since-1940#ref362086">The 2012 presidential campaign</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref362087"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France/France-since-1940#ref362087">The Hollande administration</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref362088"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/history-of-France/France-since-1940#ref362088">The Macron presidency</a></li></ul></li></ul></div></li></ul> <a class="toc-extra-link link-gray-900" href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/history-of-France/additional-info">References & Edit History</a> <a class="toc-extra-link link-gray-900" href="/facts/history-of-France">Related Topics</a> </div> <div class="tlr-media-slider pb-10 mb-30"> <a class="section-header link-gray-900 font-serif font-14 font-weight-bold mb-10 mx-10" href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/history-of-France/images-videos">Images & Videos</a> <div class="slider js-slider position-relative d-inline-flex align-items-center mw-100 "> <div class="slider-container 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Bisson</div> <div class="editor-description font-12 font-serif mt-5 clamp-description text-black">Henry Charles Lea Professor Emeritus of Medieval History, Harvard University. Author of <i>The Medieval Crown of Aragon </i>and others.</div> </a> <div data-popper-arrow></div> </div> <span class="btn btn-link editor-link p-0 qa-byline-link gtm-byline font-12 byline-contributor text-decoration-underline"> T.N. Bisson</span>, <div class="editor-popover popover p-0"> <a class="d-block p-20 qa-editor-popup gtm-byline font-12 byline-contributor" href="/contributor/Isser-Woloch/3773" > <div class="editor-title font-16 font-weight-bold">Isser Woloch</div> <div class="editor-description font-12 font-serif mt-5 clamp-description text-black">Professor of History, Columbia University. Author of <i>Jacobin Legacy: The Democratic Movement under the Directory </i>and others.</div> </a> <div data-popper-arrow></div> </div> <span class="btn btn-link editor-link p-0 qa-byline-link gtm-byline font-12 byline-contributor text-decoration-underline"> Isser Woloch</span><span class="text-gray-700 mx-5">•</span><a class="see-all border-gray-700 gtm-byline" rel="nofollow" href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/history-of-France/additional-info#contributors">All</a> </div> <div class="font-serif font-12 text-gray-700"> <span class="qa-fact-checked-by">Fact-checked by</span> <div class="editor-popover popover p-0"> <a class="d-block p-20 qa-editor-popup font-12" href="/editor/The-Editors-of-Encyclopaedia-Britannica/4419" > <div class="editor-title font-16 font-weight-bold">The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica</div> <div class="editor-description font-12 font-serif mt-5 text-black">Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors.</div> </a> <div data-popper-arrow></div> </div> <span class="btn btn-link editor-link p-0 qa-byline-link font-12 "> The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica</span></div> <div class="last-updated font-12 font-serif"> <a class="byline-edit-history" href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/history-of-France/additional-info#history" rel="nofollow">Article History</a> </div></div> </div> <button class="d-flex d-lg-none btn btn-outline-blue border rounded-sm shadow-sm mobile-toc-button gtm-mobile-toc-inline-button d-none d-sm-block js-sections-inline-button module-spacing btn d-lg-none"> <em class="material-icons mr-5 ml-n10 my-n5 md-icon" data-icon="toc"></em> Table of Contents </button> <div class="d-flex d-sm-none flex-row"> <button class="d-flex d-lg-none btn btn-outline-blue border rounded-sm shadow-sm mobile-toc-button gtm-mobile-toc-inline-button js-sections-inline-button module-spacing"> <em class="material-icons mr-5 ml-n10 my-n5 md-icon" data-icon="toc"></em> Table of Contents </button> <button class="ai-ask-button btn btn-sm border-2 btn-outline-red-400 border-red-400 module-spacing js-inline-ai-ask-button p-10 ml-5"> Ask the Chatbot </button> </div> <span class="marker before-article"></span><span class="marker h10"></span><section data-level="1" id="ref362068">  <section data-level="2" id="ref362069"> <h2 class="h2">Wartime France</h2> <span class="marker PREMOD1 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">The German victory left the French groping for a new policy and new leadership. Some 30 prominent politicians—among them <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Edouard-Daladier" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Édouard Daladier</a> and <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Pierre-Mendes-France" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Pierre Mendès-France</a>—left for <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/North-Africa" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">North Africa</a> to set up a government-in-exile there; but Pétain blocked that enterprise by ordering their arrest on arrival in Morocco. The undersecretary of war in the fallen Reynaud cabinet, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Charles-de-Gaulle-president-of-France" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">General Charles de Gaulle</a>, had already flown to London and in a radio appeal on June 18, 1940, summoned French patriots to continue the fight; but few heard or heeded his call in the first weeks. It was to Pétain, rather, that most of the nation looked for salvation.</p><span class="marker MOD1 mod-inline"></span> <section data-level="3" id="ref362070"> <h2 class="h3">The Vichy government</h2> <span class="marker PREMOD2 mod-inline"></span><div class="assemblies"><div class="w-100"><figure class="md-assembly m-0 mb-md-0 card card-borderless print-false" data-assembly-id="190959" data-asm-type="image"><div class="md-assembly-wrapper card-media" data-type="image"><a href="https://cdn.britannica.com/78/177078-050-EFCF854A/Adolf-Hitler-front-Paris-Eiffel-Tower-France-June-1940.jpg" class="gtm-assembly-link position-relative d-flex align-items-center justify-content-center media-overlay-link card-media" data-href="/media/1/216231/190959"><picture><source media="(min-width: 680px)" srcset="https://cdn.britannica.com/78/177078-050-EFCF854A/Adolf-Hitler-front-Paris-Eiffel-Tower-France-June-1940.jpg?w=300"><img src="https://cdn.britannica.com/78/177078-050-EFCF854A/Adolf-Hitler-front-Paris-Eiffel-Tower-France-June-1940.jpg?w=300" alt="Adolf Hitler" data-width="1289" data-height="1600" loading="eager"></picture><button class="magnifying-glass btn btn-circle position-absolute shadow btn-white top-10 right-10" aria-label="Zoom in"><em class="material-icons link-blue" data-icon="zoom_in"></em></button></a></div><figcaption class="card-body"><div class="md-assembly-caption text-muted font-14 font-serif line-clamp"><span><a class="gtm-assembly-link md-assembly-title font-weight-bold d-inline font-sans-serif mr-5 media-overlay-link" href="https://cdn.britannica.com/78/177078-050-EFCF854A/Adolf-Hitler-front-Paris-Eiffel-Tower-France-June-1940.jpg" data-href="/media/1/216231/190959">Adolf Hitler</a><span>Adolf Hitler (centre) in front of the Eiffel Tower in Paris shortly after signing an armistice with France, June 1940.</span><button class="js-more-btn d-none btn btn-unstyled font-12 bg-white js-content" aria-label="Toggle more/less fact data"><span class="link-blue">(more)</span></button></span></div></figcaption></figure></div></div><p class="topic-paragraph">Parliament met at <a href="https://www.britannica.com/event/Vichy-France" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Vichy</a> on July 9–10 to consider <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/France" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">France’s</a> future. The session was dominated by <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Pierre-Laval" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Pierre Laval</a>, Pétain’s vice premier, who was already emerging as the strongman of the government. Laval, convinced that Germany had won the war and would thenceforth control the Continent, saw it as his duty to adapt France to the new <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="authoritarian" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/authoritarian" data-type="MW">authoritarian</a> age. By skillful manipulation, he persuaded parliament to vote itself and the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Third-Republic-French-history" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">Third Republic</a> out of existence. The vote (569 to 80) authorized Pétain to draft a new constitution. The draft was never completed, but Pétain and his advisers did embark on a series of piecemeal reforms, which they labeled the National Revolution. Soon the elements of a corporative state began to emerge, and steps were taken to decentralize France by reviving the old provinces. In the early stages of Vichy, Pétain’s inner circle—except for Laval and a few others—was made up of right-wing traditionalists and <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="authoritarians" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/authoritarians" data-type="MW">authoritarians</a>. The real pro-fascists, such as Jacques Doriot and <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Marcel-Deat" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Marcel Déat</a>, who wanted a system modeled frankly on those of Hitler and Mussolini, soon left Vichy and settled in <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Paris" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">Paris</a>, where they accepted German subsidies and intrigued against Pétain.</p><span class="marker MOD2 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD3 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">In December 1940 Pétain dismissed Laval and placed him briefly under <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/house-arrest" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">house arrest</a>. Laval had offended Pétain and his followers by his <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="arrogance" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/arrogance" data-type="MW">arrogance</a> and his obvious taste for intrigue. His critics charged him also with attempting to bring Vichy France back into the war in alliance with the Germans. Both Laval and Pétain had accepted Hitler’s invitation to a meeting at Montoire on October 24, 1940, and, during the weeks that followed, the French leaders had publicly advocated Franco-German “collaboration.” Whether Laval hoped for a real Franco-German alliance remains somewhat controversial. If so, it was a <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="futile" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/futile" data-type="MW">futile</a> effort because Hitler had no interest in accepting France as a trusted partner; “collaboration” remained a French and not a German slogan. Hitler tolerated the temporary existence of a quasi-independent Vichy state as a useful device to help police the country and to collect the enormously inflated occupation costs imposed by the armistice.</p><span class="marker MOD3 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD4 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">Laval was succeeded by another prewar politician, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Pierre-Etienne-Flandin" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Pierre-Étienne Flandin</a>, and he, in turn, by Admiral <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Francois-Darlan" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">François Darlan</a>, who was intensely anti-British and an intriguer by nature who followed a <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="devious" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/devious" data-type="MW">devious</a> path that involved continuing efforts at active collaboration with the Germans. Hitler, meanwhile, concentrated on draining France of raw materials and foodstuffs that were useful for the conduct of the war.</p><span class="marker MOD4 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD5 mod-inline"></span><div class="assemblies"><div class="w-100"><figure class="md-assembly m-0 mb-md-0 card card-borderless print-false" data-assembly-id="242284" data-asm-type="image"><div class="md-assembly-wrapper card-media" data-type="image"><a href="https://cdn.britannica.com/22/205622-050-BC257C58/Vichy-France-Germany-June-1940-armistice-map.jpg" class="gtm-assembly-link position-relative d-flex align-items-center justify-content-center media-overlay-link card-media" data-href="/media/1/216231/242284"><picture><source media="(min-width: 680px)" srcset="https://cdn.britannica.com/22/205622-050-BC257C58/Vichy-France-Germany-June-1940-armistice-map.jpg"><img src="https://cdn.britannica.com/22/205622-050-BC257C58/Vichy-France-Germany-June-1940-armistice-map.jpg?w=300" alt="Vichy: Battle of France" data-width="1577" data-height="1600" loading="eager"></picture><button class="magnifying-glass btn btn-circle position-absolute shadow btn-white top-10 right-10" aria-label="Zoom in"><em class="material-icons link-blue" data-icon="zoom_in"></em></button></a></div><figcaption class="card-body"><div class="md-assembly-caption text-muted font-14 font-serif line-clamp"><span><a class="gtm-assembly-link md-assembly-title font-weight-bold d-inline font-sans-serif mr-5 media-overlay-link" href="https://cdn.britannica.com/22/205622-050-BC257C58/Vichy-France-Germany-June-1940-armistice-map.jpg" data-href="/media/1/216231/242284">Vichy: Battle of France</a><span>Occupation of France, 1940–44.</span><button class="js-more-btn d-none btn btn-unstyled font-12 bg-white js-content" aria-label="Toggle more/less fact data"><span class="link-blue">(more)</span></button></span></div></figcaption></figure></div></div><p class="topic-paragraph">In April 1942 Pétain restored Laval to power, partly under German pressure. Laval retained that post until the collapse of Vichy in 1944. His role was increasingly difficult because the terrible drain of the war in the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Soviet-Union" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">Soviet Union</a> caused the Germans to increase their exactions. The Germans were short of manpower for their factories, and Laval, under heavy pressure, agreed to the conscription of able-bodied French workers, allegedly in return for the release of some French prisoners of war. He also assumed the task of repressing the French underground movement, whose activities hampered the delivery of supplies and men to Germany. After the war, Laval and his friends were to argue that he had played a “double game” of limited collaboration to protect France against a worse fate.</p><div class="module-spacing"> </div><span class="marker MOD5 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD6 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">Most of Vichy’s remaining <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="autonomy" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/autonomy" data-type="MW">autonomy</a> and authority was destroyed in November 1942, in direct consequence of the Anglo-American landings in North Africa. Vichy troops in Morocco and Algeria briefly resisted the American invasion, then <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="capitulated" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/capitulated" data-type="MW">capitulated</a> when Admiral Darlan, who happened to be visiting Algiers at the time, negotiated an armistice. On November 11 Hitler ordered his troops in the occupied zone to cross the demarcation line and to take over all of France. The Vichy government survived, but only on German sufferance—a shadowy regime with little power and declining <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="prestige" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/prestige" data-type="MW">prestige</a>.</p><span class="marker MOD6 mod-inline"></span> </section> <section data-level="3" id="ref362071"> <h2 class="h3">The Resistance</h2> <span class="marker PREMOD7 mod-inline"></span><div class="assemblies"><div class="w-100"><figure class="md-assembly m-0 mb-md-0 card card-borderless print-false" data-assembly-id="120163" data-asm-type="image"><div class="md-assembly-wrapper card-media" data-type="image"><a href="https://cdn.britannica.com/70/125870-050-4C19C29C/Charles-de-Gaulle-Free-French-movement-1942.jpg" class="gtm-assembly-link position-relative d-flex align-items-center justify-content-center media-overlay-link card-media" data-href="/media/1/216231/120163"><picture><source media="(min-width: 680px)" srcset="https://cdn.britannica.com/70/125870-050-4C19C29C/Charles-de-Gaulle-Free-French-movement-1942.jpg?w=300"><img src="https://cdn.britannica.com/70/125870-050-4C19C29C/Charles-de-Gaulle-Free-French-movement-1942.jpg?w=300" alt="Charles de Gaulle" data-width="1105" data-height="1600" loading="eager"></picture><button class="magnifying-glass btn btn-circle position-absolute shadow btn-white top-10 right-10" aria-label="Zoom in"><em class="material-icons link-blue" data-icon="zoom_in"></em></button></a></div><figcaption class="card-body"><div class="md-assembly-caption text-muted font-14 font-serif line-clamp"><span><a class="gtm-assembly-link md-assembly-title font-weight-bold d-inline font-sans-serif mr-5 media-overlay-link" href="https://cdn.britannica.com/70/125870-050-4C19C29C/Charles-de-Gaulle-Free-French-movement-1942.jpg" data-href="/media/1/216231/120163">Charles de Gaulle</a><span>Gen. Charles de Gaulle, leader of the Free French movement, c. 1942.</span><button class="js-more-btn d-none btn btn-unstyled font-12 bg-white js-content" aria-label="Toggle more/less fact data"><span class="link-blue">(more)</span></button></span></div></figcaption></figure></div></div><p class="topic-paragraph">Vichy’s decline was paralleled by the rise of the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/event/resistance-European-history" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">anti-German underground</a>. Within weeks of the 1940 collapse, tiny groups of men and women had begun to resist. Some collected <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/military-intelligence" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">military intelligence</a> for transmission to London; some organized escape routes for British airmen who had been shot down; some circulated anti-German leaflets; some engaged in sabotage of railways and German installations. The Resistance movement received an important infusion of strength in June 1941, when <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Adolf-Hitler" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Hitler</a>’s attack on the Soviet Union brought the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/French-Communist-Party" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">French Communist Party</a> into active participation in the anti-German struggle. It was further <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off eb" data-term="reinforced" href="https://www.britannica.com/dictionary/reinforced" data-type="EB">reinforced</a> by the German decision to conscript French workers; many draftees took to the hills and joined guerrilla bands that took the name Maquis (meaning “underbrush”). A kind of national unity was finally achieved in May 1943, when de Gaulle’s personal representative, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Jean-Moulin" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Jean Moulin</a>, succeeded in establishing a National Resistance Council (Conseil National de la Résistance) that joined all the major movements into one federation.</p><span class="marker MOD7 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD8 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">De Gaulle’s original call for resistance had attracted only a handful of French citizens who happened to be in Britain at the time. But, as the British continued to fight, a trickle of volunteers from France began to find its way to his headquarters in London. De Gaulle promptly established an organization called <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Free-French" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Free France</a> and in 1941 capped it with a body called the French National Committee (Comité National Français), for which he boldly claimed the status of a legal government-in-exile. During the next three years, first in London and then (after 1943) in Algiers, he insisted on his right to speak for France and on France’s right to be heard as a Great Power in the councils of the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Allied-powers-World-War-II" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">Allies</a>. His demands and his manner irked Churchill and Roosevelt and caused <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off eb" data-term="persistent" href="https://www.britannica.com/dictionary/persistent" data-type="EB">persistent</a> tension. The U.S. government unsuccessfully attempted in 1942 to sidetrack him in favour of <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Henri-Honore-Giraud" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">General Henri Giraud</a>, who immediately after the Allied landings in North Africa was brought out of France to command the French armies in liberated North Africa and to assume a political role as well. De Gaulle arrived in Algiers in May 1943 and joined Giraud as copresident of a new French Committee of National Liberation. By the end of the year he had outmaneuvered Giraud and emerged as the unchallenged spokesman for French resisters everywhere. Even the Communists in 1943 grudgingly accepted his leadership.</p><span class="marker MOD8 mod-inline"></span> </section> <section data-level="3" id="ref362072"> <h2 class="h3">Liberation</h2> <span class="marker PREMOD9 mod-inline"></span><div class="assemblies"><div class="w-100"><figure class="md-assembly m-0 mb-md-0 card card-borderless print-false" data-assembly-id="40318" data-asm-type="image"><div class="md-assembly-wrapper card-media" data-type="image"><a href="https://cdn.britannica.com/66/47766-050-D7E2E437/liberation-Jacques-Philippe-Leclerc-Paris-August-1944.jpg" class="gtm-assembly-link position-relative d-flex align-items-center justify-content-center media-overlay-link card-media" data-href="/media/1/216231/40318"><picture><source media="(min-width: 680px)" srcset="https://cdn.britannica.com/66/47766-050-D7E2E437/liberation-Jacques-Philippe-Leclerc-Paris-August-1944.jpg?w=300"><img src="https://cdn.britannica.com/66/47766-050-D7E2E437/liberation-Jacques-Philippe-Leclerc-Paris-August-1944.jpg?w=300" alt="World War II: liberation of Paris" data-width="1600" data-height="1267" loading="eager"></picture><button class="magnifying-glass btn btn-circle position-absolute shadow btn-white top-10 right-10" aria-label="Zoom in"><em class="material-icons link-blue" data-icon="zoom_in"></em></button></a></div><figcaption class="card-body"><div class="md-assembly-caption text-muted font-14 font-serif line-clamp"><span><a class="gtm-assembly-link md-assembly-title font-weight-bold d-inline font-sans-serif mr-5 media-overlay-link" href="https://cdn.britannica.com/66/47766-050-D7E2E437/liberation-Jacques-Philippe-Leclerc-Paris-August-1944.jpg" data-href="/media/1/216231/40318">World War II: liberation of Paris</a><span>Jacques-Philippe Leclerc during the liberation of Paris, August 1944.</span><button class="js-more-btn d-none btn btn-unstyled font-12 bg-white js-content" aria-label="Toggle more/less fact data"><span class="link-blue">(more)</span></button></span></div></figcaption></figure></div></div><p class="topic-paragraph">When the Allied forces landed in <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Normandy" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">Normandy</a> on June 6, 1944, the armed underground units had grown large enough to play a prominent role in the battles that followed—harassing the German forces and <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off eb" data-term="sabotaging" href="https://www.britannica.com/dictionary/sabotaging" data-type="EB">sabotaging</a> railways and bridges. As the Germans gradually fell back, local Resistance organizations took over town halls and prefectures from Vichy incumbents. De Gaulle’s provisional government immediately sent its own delegates into the liberated areas to ensure an orderly transfer of power. On August 19 Resistance forces in Paris launched an insurrection against the German occupiers, and on August 25 Free French units under General Jacques Leclerc entered the city. De Gaulle himself arrived later that day, and on the next he headed a triumphal parade down the Champs-Élysées. Most high-ranking Vichy officials (including Pétain and Laval) had moved eastward with the Germans; at the castle of Sigmaringen in Germany they adopted the posture of a government-in-exile.</p><span class="marker MOD9 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD10 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">De Gaulle’s provisional government, formally recognized in October 1944 by the U.S., British, and Soviet governments, enjoyed unchallenged authority in liberated France. But the country had been stripped of raw materials and food by the Germans; the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/technology/transportation-technology" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">transportation</a> system was severely disrupted by air bombardment and sabotage; 2.5 million French prisoners of war, conscripted workers, and deportees were still in German camps; and the task of liquidating the Vichy heritage threatened to cause grave domestic stress. An informal and spontaneous purge of Vichy officials or supporters had already begun in the summer of 1944; summary executions by Resistance bands appear to have exceeded 10,000.</p><span class="marker MOD10 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD11 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">A more systematic <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="retribution" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/retribution" data-type="MW">retribution</a> followed. Special courts set up to try citizens accused of collaboration heard 125,000 cases during the next two years. Some 50,000 offenders were punished by “national degradation” (loss of civic rights for a period of years), almost 40,000 received prison terms, and between 700 and 800 were executed.</p><span class="marker MOD11 mod-inline"></span> </section> </section> <section data-level="2" id="ref362073"> <h2 class="h2">The Fourth Republic</h2> <span class="marker PREMOD12 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">Shortly after his return to Paris, de Gaulle announced that the citizens of France would determine their future governmental system as soon as the absent prisoners and deportees could be repatriated. That process was largely completed by midsummer 1945, soon after Germany’s defeat, whereupon de Gaulle scheduled a combined referendum and election for October. Women, for the first time in French <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/history" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">history</a>, were granted <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/suffrage" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">suffrage</a>. By an overwhelming majority (96 percent of the votes cast), the nation rejected a return to the prewar regime. The mood of the liberation era was marked by a thirst for renovation and for change.</p><span class="marker MOD12 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD13 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">New men of the Resistance movement dominated the <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="constituent" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/constituent" data-type="MW">constituent</a> assembly, and the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/centre-of-gravity" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">centre of gravity</a> was heavily to the left: three-fourths of the deputies were Communists, Socialists, or Christian Democrats who had adhered to the new party of the Catholic left—the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Popular-Republican-Movement" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Popular Republican Movement</a> (Mouvement Républicain Populaire).</p><span class="marker MOD13 mod-inline"></span> <section data-level="3" id="ref362074"> <h2 class="h3">Constitution of the Fourth Republic</h2> <span class="marker PREMOD14 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">It soon became clear that the apparent unity forged in the Resistance was superficial and that the new political elite was sharply divided over the form of the new republic. Some urged the need for greater stability through a strong executive; others, notably the Communists, favoured concentrating power in a one-house legislature subject to grassroots control by the voters. De Gaulle remained aloof from this controversy, though it was obvious that he favoured a strong presidency. In January 1946 de Gaulle suddenly resigned his post as provisional president, apparently expecting that a wave of public support would bring him back to power with a <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="mandate" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/mandate" data-type="MW">mandate</a> to impose his <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="constitutional" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/constitutional" data-type="MW">constitutional</a> ideas. Instead, the public was stunned and confused, and it failed to react. The assembly promptly chose the Socialist Félix Gouin to replace him, and the embittered de Gaulle retired to his country estate.</p><span class="marker MOD14 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD15 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">The assembly’s constitutional draft, submitted to a popular referendum in May 1946, was rejected by the voters. A new assembly was quickly elected to prepare a revised draft, which in October was narrowly approved by the voters. De Gaulle actively intervened in the campaign for the second referendum, <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off eb" data-term="denouncing" href="https://www.britannica.com/dictionary/denouncing" data-type="EB">denouncing</a> the proposed system as unworkable and urging the need for a stronger executive. His ideas anticipated the system that later was to be embodied in the constitution of the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Fifth-Republic-French-history" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">Fifth Republic</a> (1958).</p><span class="marker MOD15 mod-inline"></span> </section> <section data-level="3" id="ref362075"> <h2 class="h3">Political and social changes</h2> <span class="marker PREMOD16 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">The structure of the Fourth Republic seemed remarkably like that of the Third; in actual operation it seemed even more familiar. The lower house of parliament (now renamed the National Assembly) was once more the locus of power; shaky coalition cabinets again succeeded one another at brief intervals, and the lack of a clear-cut majority in the country or in parliament hampered vigorous or <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="coherent" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/coherent" data-type="MW">coherent</a> action. Many politicians from the prewar period turned up once again in cabinet posts.</p><span class="marker MOD16 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD17 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">Yet outside the realm of political structure and parliamentary gamesmanship there were real and fundamental changes. The long sequence of crises that had shaken the nation since 1930 had left a deep imprint on French attitudes. There was much less public complacency; both the routines and the values of the French people had been shaken up and subjected to challenge by a generation of upheaval. Many of the new men who had emerged from the Resistance movement into political life, business posts, or the state <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="bureaucracy" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/bureaucracy" data-type="MW">bureaucracy</a> retained a strong urge toward renovation as well as to a reassertion of France’s lost greatness.</p><span class="marker MOD17 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD18 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">This altered mood helps to explain the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/money/economic-growth" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">economic growth</a> that marked the later years of the Fourth Republic. The painful convalescence from the ravages of war was speeded by massive aid from the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/United-States" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">United States</a> and by the gentle persuasion (and ample credits) of Jean Monnet’s Planning Commissariat (Commissariat Général du Plan), adopted in 1947. A burst of industrial expansion in most branches of the economy began in the mid-1950s, unmatched in any decade of French history since the 1850s. The rate of growth for a time rivaled that of Germany and exceeded that of most other European countries. The only serious flaw in the boom was a nagging inflationary trend that weakened the franc. Short-lived coalition cabinets were incapable of taking the painful measures needed to check this trend.</p><span class="marker MOD18 mod-inline"></span> </section> <section data-level="3" id="ref362076"> <h2 class="h3">Colonial independence movements</h2> <span class="marker PREMOD19 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">A less fortunate aspect of the national urge to reassert France’s stature in the world was the Fourth Republic’s costly effort to hold the colonial empire. France’s colonies had provided de Gaulle with his first important base of support as leader of Free France, and, as the war continued, they had furnished valuable resources and manpower. The colonial peoples, therefore, now felt justified in demanding a new relationship with France, and French leaders recognized the need to grant <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="concessions" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/concessions" data-type="MW">concessions</a>. But most of these leaders, including de Gaulle, were not prepared to permit any infringement on French <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="sovereignty" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/sovereignty" data-type="MW">sovereignty</a>, either immediately or in the foreseeable future. For a nation seeking to rebuild its self-respect, the prospect of a loss of empire seemed unacceptable; most of the French, moreover, were convinced that the native peoples overseas lacked the necessary training for self-government and that a relaxation of the French grip would merely open the way to domination by another imperial power. The constitution of 1946 therefore introduced only mild reforms: the empire was renamed the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/French-Union" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">French Union</a>, within which the colonial peoples would enjoy a narrowly limited local <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off eb" data-term="autonomy" href="https://www.britannica.com/dictionary/autonomy" data-type="EB">autonomy</a> plus some representation in the French parliament.</p><span class="marker MOD19 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD20 mod-inline"></span><div class="assemblies"><div class="w-100"><figure class="md-assembly m-0 mb-md-0 card card-borderless print-false" data-assembly-id="94070" data-asm-type="video"><div class="md-assembly-wrapper card-media" data-type="video" video-id="78015"><a data-id="78015" class="gtm-assembly-link d-flex justify-content-center" style="--aspect-ratio: 16/9" href="/video/defeat-Vietnam-Perspective-gains-French-Battle-of-1954/-94070"><img src="https://cdn.britannica.com/15/78015-138-71F6F488/defeat-Vietnam-Perspective-gains-French-Battle-of-1954.jpg?w=800&h=450&c=crop" alt="Examine early U.S. involvement in Vietnam under the Eisenhower administration during the First Indochina War" loading="lazy"><script type="application/json"> { "sources": [ { "file" : "//content.jwplatform.com/manifests/9UQLzC9W.m3u8" } ], "image": "https://cdn.britannica.com/15/78015-138-71F6F488/defeat-Vietnam-Perspective-gains-French-Battle-of-1954.jpg" ,"tracks": [ { "file" : "//assets-jpcust.jwpsrv.com/tracks/lDT8dknQ", "label": "English" } ] ,"adfile": "//content.jwplatform.com/manifests/v2boNNaJ.m3u8" } </script><div class="btn btn-xl btn-white btn-circle position-absolute shadow" style="top: 50%; transform: translateY(-50%)"><em class="material-icons" data-icon="play_arrow"></em></div></a></div><figcaption class="card-body"><div class="md-assembly-caption text-muted font-14 font-serif line-clamp"><span><span class="md-assembly-title font-weight-bold mr-5 d-inline font-sans-serif md-video-caption" video-control="78015">Examine early U.S. involvement in Vietnam under the Eisenhower administration during the First Indochina War</span><span>French defeat by Viet Minh at Dien Bien Phu, northern Vietnam, 1954.</span><button class="js-more-btn d-none btn btn-unstyled font-12 bg-white js-content" aria-label="Toggle more/less fact data"><span class="link-blue">(more)</span></button></span></div><a class="font-14 mt-10 d-inline-block" href="/topic/history-of-France/images-videos">See all videos for this article</a></figcaption></figure></div></div><p class="topic-paragraph">This cautious reform came too late to win acceptance in many parts of the empire. The situation was most serious in <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Southeast-Asia" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">Southeast Asia</a>, where the Japanese had displaced the French during <a href="https://www.britannica.com/event/World-War-II" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">World War II</a>. Japan’s defeat in 1945 enabled the French to regain control of southern <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Indochina" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Indochina</a>, but the northern half was promptly taken over by a Vietnamese nationalist movement headed by the communist <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Ho-Chi-Minh" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Ho Chi Minh</a>. French efforts to negotiate a compromise with Ho’s regime broke down in December 1946, and a bloody eight-year war followed. In the end, the financial and psychological strain proved too great for France to bear, and, after the capture of the French <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off eb" data-term="stronghold" href="https://www.britannica.com/dictionary/stronghold" data-type="EB">stronghold</a> of <a href="https://www.britannica.com/event/Battle-of-Dien-Bien-Phu" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Dien Bien Phu</a> in 1954 by the Vietnamese, the French sought a face-saving solution. A conference of interested powers at Geneva that year ended the war by establishing what was intended as a temporary division of Vietnam into independent northern and southern states. Two other segments of Indochina, the former protectorates of Laos and Cambodia, had earlier been converted by the French into independent monarchies to preserve some French influence there.</p><span class="marker MOD20 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD21 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">On the night of October 31, 1954, barely six months after the fighting in Indochina ended, Algerian nationalists raised the standard of rebellion. By 1958 more than a half million French soldiers had been sent to Algeria—the largest overseas expeditionary force in French history. France’s determination to hold Algeria stemmed from a number of factors: the presence of almost a million European settlers, the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/legal-fiction" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">legal fiction</a> that Algeria was an <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="integral" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/integral" data-type="MW">integral</a> part of France, and the recent discovery of oil in the southern desert. Fears that the rebellion might spread to <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Tunisia" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Tunisia</a> and <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Morocco" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Morocco</a> led the French to make drastic concessions there; in 1956 both of these protectorates became <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="sovereign" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/sovereign" data-type="MW">sovereign</a> states.</p><span class="marker MOD21 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD22 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">The long and brutal struggle in Algeria gravely affected the political life of the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Fourth-Republic-French-history" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Fourth Republic</a> and ended by destroying it. A vocal minority in France openly favoured a negotiated settlement, though no political leader dared take so unpopular a position. Right-wing activists, outraged at what they saw as the spread of defeatism, turned to conspiracy; both in Paris and in <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Algiers" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Algiers</a>, extremist groups began to plot the replacement of the Fourth Republic by a tougher regime, headed by army officers or perhaps by General de Gaulle.</p><span class="marker MOD22 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD23 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">These plans had not <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off eb" data-term="yet" href="https://www.britannica.com/dictionary/yet" data-type="EB">yet</a> matured when a cabinet crisis in April–May 1958 gave the conspirators a chance to strike. On May 13, when a new cabinet was scheduled to present its program to the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/National-Assembly-historical-French-parliament" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">National Assembly</a>, activist groups in Algiers went into the streets in an effort to influence parliament’s vote. By nightfall they were in control of the city and set up an emergency government with local army support. De Gaulle on May 15 announced that he was prepared to take power if called to do so by his fellow citizens. Two weeks of negotiations followed, interspersed with threats of violent action by the Algiers rebels. Most of the Fourth Republic’s political leaders reluctantly concluded that de Gaulle’s return was the only <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="alternative" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/alternative" data-type="MW">alternative</a> to an army <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/coup-detat" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">coup</a> that might lead to civil war. On June 1, therefore, the National Assembly voted de Gaulle full powers for six months, thus putting a <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/de-facto" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">de facto</a> end to the Fourth Republic.</p><span class="marker MOD23 mod-inline"></span> </section> </section> <section data-level="2" id="ref362077"> <h2 class="h2">The Fifth Republic</h2> <span class="marker PREMOD24 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">During his years of self-imposed exile, de Gaulle had scorned and derided the Fourth Republic and its leaders. He had briefly sought to oppose the regime by organizing a Gaullist party, but he had soon abandoned this venture as futile. Back in power, he adopted a more conciliatory line; he invited a number of old politicians to join his cabinet, but, by naming his <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="disciple" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/disciple" data-type="MW">disciple</a> <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Michel-Debre" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Michel Debré</a> head of a commission to draft a new constitution, de Gaulle made sure that his own ideas would shape the future. This draft, approved in a referendum in September by 79 percent of the valid votes cast, embodied de Gaulle’s <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="conceptions" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/conceptions" data-type="MW">conceptions</a> of how France should be governed. Executive power was considerably increased at the expense of the National Assembly. The president of the republic was given much broader authority; he would henceforth be chosen by an electorate of local notables rather than by parliament, and he would select the premier (renamed <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/prime-minister" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">prime minister</a>), who would continue to be responsible to the National Assembly but would be less subject to its whims. In the new National Assembly, elected in November, the largest block of seats was won by a newly organized Gaullist party, the Union for the New Republic (Union pour la Nouvelle République; UNR); the parties of the left suffered serious losses. In December de Gaulle was elected president for a seven-year term, and he appointed Debré as his first prime minister. The Fifth Republic came into operation on January 8, 1959, when de Gaulle assumed his presidential functions and appointed a new government.</p><span class="marker MOD24 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD25 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">The new president’s most immediate problems were the Algerian conflict and the inflation caused by the war. He attacked the latter, with considerable success, by introducing a program of deflation and austerity. As for Algeria, he seemed at first to share the views of those whose slogan was “Algérie française”; but, as time went by, it became clear that he was seeking a compromise that would keep an <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="autonomous" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/autonomous" data-type="MW">autonomous</a> <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Algeria" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Algeria</a> loosely linked with France. The Algerian nationalist leaders, however, were not interested in compromise, while the die-hard French colonists looked increasingly to the army for support against what they began to call de Gaulle’s betrayal. Open <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="sedition" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/sedition" data-type="MW">sedition</a> followed in 1961, when a group of high army officers headed by General <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Raoul-Albin-Louis-Salan" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Raoul Salan</a> formed the Secret Army Organization (Organisation de l’Armée Secrète; OAS) and attempted to stage a coup in Algiers. When the insurrection failed, the OAS turned to <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/terrorism" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">terrorism</a>; there were several attempts on de Gaulle’s life. The president pushed ahead nevertheless with his search for a settlement with the Algerians that would combine independence with guarantees for the safety of French colonists and their property. Such a settlement was finally worked out, and in a referendum (April 1962) more than 90 percent of the war-weary French voters approved the agreement. An exodus of European settlers ensued; 750,000 refugees flooded into France. The burden of absorbing them was heavy, but the prosperous French economy was able to finance the process despite some psychological strains.</p><span class="marker MOD25 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD26 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">The Algerian crisis sped the process of <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/decolonization" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">decolonization</a> in the rest of the empire. Some concessions to local nationalist <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="sentiment" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/sentiment" data-type="MW">sentiment</a> had already been made during the 1950s, and de Gaulle’s new constitution had authorized increased self-rule. But the urge for independence was irresistible, and by 1961 virtually all the French territories in Africa had demanded and achieved it. De Gaulle’s government reacted shrewdly by embarking on a program of military support and economic aid to the former colonies; most of France’s foreign-aid money went to them. This encouraged the emergence of a French-speaking bloc of nations, which gave greater <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="resonance" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/resonance" data-type="MW">resonance</a> to France’s role in world affairs.</p><span class="marker MOD26 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD27 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">The Algerian settlement brought France a respite after 16 years of almost unbroken colonial wars. Prime Minister Debré resigned in 1962 and was replaced by one of de Gaulle’s closest aides, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Georges-Jean-Raymond-Pompidou" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Georges Pompidou</a>. The party leaders now began to talk of <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="amending" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/amending" data-type="MW">amending</a> the constitution to restore the powers of the National Assembly. Faced by this prospect, de Gaulle seized the <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="initiative" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/initiative" data-type="MW">initiative</a> by proposing his own constitutional amendment; it provided for direct popular election of the president, thus further increasing his authority. When his critics denounced the project as unconstitutional, de Gaulle retaliated by dissolving the assembly and proceeding with his constitutional referendum. On October 28, 62 percent of those voting gave their approval, and in the subsequent elections (November) the Gaullist UNR won a clear majority in the assembly. Pompidou was reappointed prime minister.</p><span class="marker MOD27 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD28 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">When de Gaulle’s presidential term ended in 1965, he announced his candidacy for reelection. For the first time since 1848 the voting was to be by direct popular suffrage. De Gaulle’s challengers forced de Gaulle into a runoff, and his victory over the moderate leftist <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Francois-Mitterrand" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">François Mitterrand</a> in the second round by a 55–45 margin was closer than had been predicted but <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="sufficed" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/sufficed" data-type="MW">sufficed</a> to assure him of seven more years in power. Although de Gaulle’s leadership had not ended political division in France, his compatriots could not ignore the achievements of his first term. Not only had he disengaged France from Algeria without producing a civil war at home, but he could also point to continuing economic growth, a solid currency, and a stability of government that was greater than any living French citizen had known.</p><span class="marker MOD28 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD29 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">The mid-1960s were the golden years of the Gaullist era, with the president playing the role of elected monarch and respected world statesman. France had adjusted well to the loss of empire and to membership in the European Common Market (later the European Community), which brought the country more benefits than costs. De Gaulle could now embark on an <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="assertive" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/assertive" data-type="MW">assertive</a> <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/foreign-policy" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">foreign policy</a>, designed to restore what he called France’s grandeur; he could indulge in such luxuries as blocking Britain’s entry into the Common Market, ejecting <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/North-Atlantic-Treaty-Organization" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">North Atlantic Treaty Organization</a> (NATO) forces from France, lecturing the Americans on their involvement in Vietnam, and traveling to Canada to call for a “free Quebec.” He continued the Fourth Republic’s initiative in developing both <a href="https://www.britannica.com/technology/nuclear-power" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">nuclear power</a> and nuclear weapons—the so-called <em>force de frappe</em>. His foreign policy enjoyed broad domestic support, and the French people also seemed content with the prosperity and order that accompanied his paternalistic rule.</p><span class="marker MOD29 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD30 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">Beneath the surface, however, basic <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off eb" data-term="discontent" href="https://www.britannica.com/dictionary/discontent" data-type="EB">discontent</a> persisted and was startlingly revealed by the crisis that erupted in May 1968. Student disorders in the universities of the Paris region had been sporadic for some time; they exploded on May 3, when a rally of student radicals at the Sorbonne became violent and was broken up by the police. This minor incident quickly became a major confrontation: barricades went up in the Latin Quarter, street fighting broke out, and the Sorbonne was occupied by student rebels, who converted it into a huge commune. The unrest spread to other universities and then to the factories as well; a wave of wildcat strikes rolled across France, eventually involving several million workers and virtually paralyzing the nation. Prime Minister Pompidou ordered the police to evacuate the Latin Quarter and concentrated on negotiations with the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/money/organized-labor" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">labour union</a> leaders. An agreement calling for improved <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off eb" data-term="wages" href="https://www.britannica.com/dictionary/wages" data-type="EB">wages</a> and working conditions was hammered out, but it collapsed when the rank-and-file workers refused to end their strike.</p><span class="marker MOD30 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD31 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">By the end of May various radical factions no longer concealed their intent to carry out a true revolution that would bring down the Fifth Republic. De Gaulle seemed incapable of grappling with the crisis or of even understanding its nature. The Communist and <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/trade-union" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">trade union</a> leaders, however, provided him with breathing space; they opposed further upheaval, evidently fearing the loss of their followers to their more extremist and anarchist rivals. In addition, many middle-class citizens who had initially enjoyed the excitement lost their enthusiasm as they saw established institutions disintegrating before their eyes.</p><span class="marker MOD31 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD32 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">De Gaulle, sensing the opportune moment, suddenly left Paris by helicopter on May 29. Rumours spread that he was about to resign. Instead, he returned the next day with a promise of armed support, if needed, from the commanders of the French occupation troops in Germany. In a dramatic four-minute radio address, he appealed to the partisans of law and order and presented himself as the only barrier to <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="anarchy" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/anarchy" data-type="MW">anarchy</a> or Communist rule. Loyal Gaullists and nervous citizens rallied round him; the activist factions were isolated when the Communists refused to join them in a resort to force. The confrontation moved from the streets to the polls. De Gaulle dissolved the National Assembly, and on June 23 and 30 the Gaullists won a landslide victory. The Gaullist Union of Democrats for the Republic (Union des Démocrates pour la République [UDR]; the former UNR), with its allies, emerged with three-fourths of the seats.</p><span class="marker MOD32 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD33 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">The <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="repercussions" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/repercussions" data-type="MW">repercussions</a> of the May crisis were considerable. The government, shocked by the depth and extent of discontent, made a series of concessions to the protesting groups. Workers were granted higher wages and improved working conditions; the assembly adopted a university reform bill intended to modernize <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/higher-education" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">higher education</a> and to give teachers and students a voice in running their institutions. De Gaulle took the occasion to shake up his cabinet; Pompidou was replaced by Maurice Couve de Murville. De Gaulle evidently sensed the emergence of Pompidou as a serious rival, for the prime minister had shown toughness and nerve during the crisis, while the president had temporarily lost his bearings. The economy also suffered from the upheaval; <a href="https://www.britannica.com/money/austerity" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">austerity measures</a> were needed to stabilize things once more.</p><span class="marker MOD33 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD34 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">Although normalcy gradually returned, de Gaulle remained baffled and irritated by what the French called <em>les événements de mai</em> (“the events of May”). Perhaps it was to reaffirm his leadership that he proposed another test at the polls: a pair of constitutional <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="amendments" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/amendments" data-type="MW">amendments</a> to be voted on by referendum. Their content was of secondary importance, yet de Gaulle threw his prestige into the balance, announcing that he would resign if the amendments failed to be approved. Every opposition faction seized upon the chance to challenge the president. On April 27, 1969, the amendments were defeated by a 53 to 47 percent margin, and that night de Gaulle silently abandoned his office. He returned to the obscurity of his country estate and turned once more to the writing of his memoirs. In 1970, just before his 80th birthday, he died of a massive stroke. His passing inspired an almost <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off eb" data-term="worldwide" href="https://www.britannica.com/dictionary/worldwide" data-type="EB">worldwide</a> chorus of praise, even from those who up to then had been his most persistent critics.</p><span class="marker MOD34 mod-inline"></span> </section> <section data-level="2" id="ref362078"> <h2 class="h2">France after de Gaulle</h2> <span class="marker PREMOD35 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">De Gaulle’s departure from the scene provoked some early speculation about the survival of the Fifth Republic and of the Gaullist party (the UDR); both, after all, had been tailored to the general’s measure. But both proved to be durable, although his successors gave the system a somewhat different tone. Pompidou won the presidency in June 1969 over several left and centre rivals. He adopted a less assertive foreign policy stance and in domestic affairs showed a preference for classic laissez-faire, reflecting his connections with the business <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="community" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/community" data-type="MW">community</a>.</p><span class="marker MOD35 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD36 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">The turn toward a more <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="conservative" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/conservative" data-type="MW">conservative</a>, business-oriented line contributed to a revival of the political left, which had been decimated by the aftershocks of the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/event/events-of-May-1968" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">events of May 1968</a>. Mitterrand, leader of a small left-centre party, took advantage of the change in political climate. In 1971 he engineered a merger of several minor factions with the almost <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="moribund" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/moribund" data-type="MW">moribund</a> <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Socialist-Party-France" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Socialist Party</a> and won election as leader of the reinvigorated party. He then persuaded the Communists to join the Socialists in drafting what was called the Common Program, which was a plan to combine forces in future elections and in an eventual <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/coalition-government" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">coalition government</a>.</p><span class="marker MOD36 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD37 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">Unexpectedly, in April 1974 President Pompidou died of cancer. Mitterrand declared his candidacy as representative of the united left, while the <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="conservatives" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/conservatives" data-type="MW">conservatives</a> failed to agree on a candidate. The Gaullists nominated Prime Minister <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Jacques-Chaban-Delmas" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Jacques Chaban-Delmas</a>, but a sizable minority of the UDR broke ranks and instead declared support for a non-Gaullist, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Valery-Giscard-dEstaing" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Valéry Giscard d’Estaing</a>, who was the leader of a business party, the Independent Republicans (Républicains Indépendants). Giscard won over Chaban-Delmas in the first round and narrowly defeated Mitterrand in the runoff.</p><span class="marker MOD37 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD38 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">Despite his conservative connections, the new president declared his goal to be the transformation of France into “an advanced liberal society.” He chose as prime minister the young and forceful <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Jacques-Chirac" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Jacques Chirac</a>, leader of the Gaullist minority that had bolted the UDR in Giscard’s favour. The new leadership pushed through a reform program designed to attract young voters: it reduced the voting age to 18, legalized abortion within certain limits, and instituted measures to protect the <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="environment" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/environment" data-type="MW">environment</a>. But the course of reform was stalled by the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/money/oil-crisis" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">oil crisis</a> of 1973, brought on by events in the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Middle-East" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">Middle East</a>. Industrial production slowed, unemployment rose, and inflation threatened.</p><span class="marker MOD38 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD39 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">As discontent grew, Giscard’s leadership was challenged by his ambitious prime minister, Chirac. Open rivalry between the two men led Giscard to dismiss Chirac in favour of <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Raymond-Barre" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">Raymond Barre</a>, a professional economist. Chirac retaliated by persuading the divided and disheartened Gaullists to transform the UDR into a new party, the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Rally-for-the-Republic" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Rally for the Republic</a> (Rassemblement pour la République; RPR), with himself as its head. He also gained an additional power base by standing successfully for election to the <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off eb" data-term="revived" href="https://www.britannica.com/dictionary/revived" data-type="EB">revived</a> post of mayor of Paris.</p><span class="marker MOD39 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD40 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">These factional conflicts on the right opened new prospects for the coalition of the rejuvenated left and seemed to assure its victory in the 1978 parliamentary elections. But at that point the Socialist-Communist alliance fell apart. The Socialists had made dramatic gains at Communist expense since the Common Program had been adopted, and the Communists decided it was safer to scuttle the agreement. The collapse of leftist unity alienated a large number of left voters and enabled the conservatives to retain control of the National Assembly in the 1978 elections.</p><span class="marker MOD40 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD41 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">When Giscard’s presidential term ended in May 1981, opinion polls seemed to indicate that he would be elected to a second term. He overcame a <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off eb" data-term="vigorous" href="https://www.britannica.com/dictionary/vigorous" data-type="EB">vigorous</a> challenge by Chirac in the first round of voting and seemed well placed to defeat the Socialist Mitterrand in the runoff. But Mitterrand surprised the pollsters by scoring a slim victory—the first major victory for the left in three decades. Profiting from the wave of euphoria that followed, Mitterrand dissolved the National Assembly and, calling for elections, succeeded once again. The Socialists won a clear majority of seats (269 of the total 491) and seemed in a position to transform France into a social democratic state.</p><span class="marker MOD41 mod-inline"></span> </section> <section data-level="2" id="ref362079"> <h2 class="h2">France under a Socialist presidency</h2> <section data-level="3" id="ref362080"> <h2 class="h3">Mitterrand’s first term</h2> <span class="marker PREMOD42 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">Mitterrand moved at once to carry out what appeared to be the voters’ mandate. He named as prime minister a longtime Socialist militant, Pierre Mauroy, whose cabinet was almost solidly Socialist except for four Communists. Major reforms followed quickly. A broad sector of the economy was nationalized (including 11 large industrial conglomerates and most private banks); a considerable degree of administrative decentralization shifted part of the state’s authority to regional and local councils; social benefits were expanded and factory layoffs made subject to state controls; tax rates were increased at the upper levels; and a special wealth tax was imposed on large fortunes.</p><span class="marker MOD42 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD43 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">The Socialists hoped that other industrial countries would adopt similar measures and that this joint effort would stimulate a broad recovery from the post-1973 recession. Instead, most of the other Western nations took the opposite course, turning toward conservative retrenchment. Isolated in an unsympathetic world and hampered by angry opposition at home, the Socialist experiment sputtered: exports declined, the value of the franc fell, unemployment continued to rise, and capital fled to safe havens abroad. The government was soon forced to retreat. Mauroy was replaced by a young Socialist technocrat, Laurent Fabius, who announced a turn from <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="ideology" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ideology" data-type="MW">ideology</a> to <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="efficiency" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/efficiency" data-type="MW">efficiency</a>, with modernization the new keynote.</p><span class="marker MOD43 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD44 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">Many leftist voters were disillusioned by the frustration of their hopes. Discontent also emerged on the political margins. On the far left the Communists withdrew their ministers from the cabinet. On the far right a new focus of discontent emerged in <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Jean-Marie-Le-Pen" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Jean-Marie Le Pen</a>’s <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/National-Rally-France" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">National Front</a> (Front National), which scored successes with its campaign to expel immigrant workers. To nobody’s surprise, the Socialists lost control of the National Assembly in the March 1986 elections; they and their allies retained only 215 seats, while the rightist coalition rose to 291.</p><span class="marker MOD44 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD45 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">Mitterrand’s presidential term still had two years to run. But the Fifth Republic now faced a long-debated test: Could the system function when parliament and president were at odds? Mitterrand sidestepped the <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off eb" data-term="dilemma" href="https://www.britannica.com/dictionary/dilemma" data-type="EB">dilemma</a> by choosing the path of prudent retreat. He named as prime minister the conservatives’ strongest leader, Chirac of the Gaullist RPR, and abandoned to him most governmental decisions (except on foreign and defense policy, which de Gaulle himself had reserved for the president). This uneasy relationship was promptly labeled “cohabitation”; it lasted two years and in the end worked in Mitterrand’s rather than Chirac’s favour.</p><span class="marker MOD45 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD46 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">Chirac acted at once to reverse many of the Socialists’ reforms. He began the complex process of privatizing the nationalized enterprises, reduced <a href="https://www.britannica.com/money/income-tax" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">income tax</a> rates at the upper levels and abolished the wealth tax, and removed some of the regulatory controls on industry. These moves brought Chirac praise but also <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="criticism" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/criticism" data-type="MW">criticism</a>. His popularity suffered in addition from a series of threats to public order—notably a long transport strike and a wave of terrorist attacks on the streets of Paris—that cast some doubt on the government’s promise to ensure law and order. As Chirac’s approval ratings fell, Mitterrand’s recovered. Cohabitation enabled him to avoid making sensitive decisions, and voters gave him credit for faithfully respecting his constitutional limitations.</p><span class="marker MOD46 mod-inline"></span> </section> <section data-level="3" id="ref362081"> <h2 class="h3">Mitterrand’s second term</h2> <span class="marker PREMOD47 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">Restraint paid dividends when Mitterrand ran, against Chirac, for a second term in April–May 1988 and scored a clear victory (54 to 46 percent). The resurgent president chose the Socialist <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Michel-Louis-Leon-Rocard" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Michel Rocard</a> as prime minister and once again dissolved the National Assembly in the hope that the voters would give him a parliamentary majority. That hope was only partially realized this time; the Socialists and their allies won 279 seats, but they fell short of a clear majority.</p><span class="marker MOD47 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD48 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">Mitterrand’s choice of Rocard as prime minister caused some surprise, for the two men had headed rival factions within the Socialist Party, and they were temperamentally alien. Rocard was a brilliant financial expert and an advocate of government by <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="consensus" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/consensus" data-type="MW">consensus</a> of the left and centre, while Mitterrand was considered a master of political gamesmanship. The uneasy relationship lasted three years, and Rocard was successful enough in managing the economy to maintain his high approval rating in the polls until the end.</p><span class="marker MOD48 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD49 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">Mitterrand’s decision to replace Rocard in 1991 with France’s first woman prime minister, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Edith-Cresson" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Edith Cresson</a>, provoked serious controversy. Cresson, a Mitterrand loyalist, had held a variety of cabinet posts during the 1980s and was seen as an able but tough and abrasive politician. Brash public statements by Cresson affected her ability to rule, the Socialists suffered disastrous losses in regional elections (March 1992), and Mitterrand replaced Cresson in April 1992 with a different sort of Socialist, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Pierre-Beregovoy" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Pierre Bérégovoy</a>.</p><span class="marker MOD49 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD50 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">“Béré” (as he was familiarly known) was a rare example of a proletarian who had risen through trade union ranks to political eminence. The son of an immigrant Ukrainian blue-collar worker, he had earned a reputation as an expert on public finance and as an incorruptible politician. His promise to end the plague of financial scandals that had beset recent Socialist governments won applause but left him <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="vulnerable" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/vulnerable" data-type="MW">vulnerable</a> when he, in turn, was accused of misconduct: he had accepted, from a wealthy businessman under investigation for <a href="https://www.britannica.com/money/insider-trading" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">insider trading</a>, a large loan to finance the purchase of a Paris apartment. Although no illegality was involved, Bérégovoy’s reputation for <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="integrity" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/integrity" data-type="MW">integrity</a> suffered. In the parliamentary elections that took place in March 1993, the Socialists suffered a crushing defeat; they retained only 67 seats compared with 486 for the right-wing coalition (RPR and UDR). Bérégovoy resigned as prime minister and a few weeks later shocked the country by committing suicide.</p><span class="marker MOD50 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD51 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">Although the triumphant conservatives called on Mitterrand also to resign, he refused; his presidential term still had two years to run. But he had to face cohabitation again, this time with another Gaullist, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Edouard-Balladur" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Édouard Balladur</a>. Chirac preferred to avoid the risks of active <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/decision-making" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">decision making</a> while he was preparing his own campaign for the presidency.</p><span class="marker MOD51 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD52 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">Mitterrand entered his second cohabitation experience with his prestige damaged by his party’s recent misfortunes. He had also lost stature by a mistaken judgment in his own “reserved” sector of foreign policy. Mitterrand had been a leading drafter of the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/event/Maastricht-Treaty" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">Maastricht Treaty</a> (1991), designed to strengthen the institutional structures of the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/European-Community-European-economic-association" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">European Community</a>. When the treaty encountered hostile criticism, he gambled on a popular referendum in France to <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="bolster" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/bolster" data-type="MW">bolster</a> support. The outcome was a bare 51 percent approval by the French voters, and, although it was enough to put Maastricht into effect, the evidence of deep division in France further reduced the president’s prestige. Still another embarrassment was the revelation in 1994 that Mitterrand had accepted a <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="bureaucratic" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/bureaucratic" data-type="MW">bureaucratic</a> post in Pétain’s Vichy regime in 1942–43. There were cries of outrage, yet the shock and fury quickly faded. In some circles he was credited with throwing his critics off balance by his clever management of the news. Prior to his death in January 1996, Mitterrand left his mark culturally on Paris as well, where grandiose <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/architecture" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">architecture</a> projects such as the Opéra de la Bastille, the expanded Louvre, the towering Grande Arche de la Défense, and the new <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Bibliotheque-Nationale-de-France" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">Bibliothèque Nationale de France</a> kept his name alive.</p><span class="marker MOD52 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD53 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">Mitterrand’s second <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off eb" data-term="venture" href="https://www.britannica.com/dictionary/venture" data-type="EB">venture</a> into cohabitation (1993–95) had proved more helpful to Prime Minister Balladur than to the president. It also had proved deeply disappointing to Chirac, who had engineered Balladur’s appointment on the assumption that he would stand in for Chirac and step aside in his favour when the presidential election approached. Chirac had failed to see that his stylish and courteous stand-in might develop into his own most serious rival. By 1995 Balladur was the clear front-runner and announced his presidential candidacy against his own party leader, Chirac. Meanwhile, the Socialists, after some initial scrambling to find a viable candidate, ended by choosing party official <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Lionel-Jospin" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Lionel Jospin</a>, who led the field in the first round of voting on April 23. Chirac, a vigorous campaigner, outpaced Balladur, and in the runoff he won again, this time against Jospin. His victory brought to an end the 14-year Socialist presidency.</p><span class="marker MOD53 mod-inline"></span> <span class="md-signature font-12"><a href="/contributor/Gordon-Wright/3271">Gordon Wright</a></span> <span class="md-signature font-12"><a href="/contributor/Eugen-Weber/4684">Eugen Weber</a></span> </section> </section> <section data-level="2" id="ref362082"> <h2 class="h2">France under conservative presidencies</h2> <section data-level="3" id="ref362083"> <h2 class="h3">The Chirac administration</h2> <span class="marker PREMOD54 mod-inline"></span><div class="assemblies"><div class="w-100"><figure class="md-assembly m-0 mb-md-0 card card-borderless print-false" data-assembly-id="228627" data-asm-type="image"><div class="md-assembly-wrapper card-media" data-type="image"><a href="https://cdn.britannica.com/24/197024-050-D5BE8126/Jacques-Chirac-2004.jpg" class="gtm-assembly-link position-relative d-flex align-items-center justify-content-center media-overlay-link card-media" data-href="/media/1/216231/228627"><picture><source media="(min-width: 680px)" srcset="https://cdn.britannica.com/24/197024-050-D5BE8126/Jacques-Chirac-2004.jpg?w=300"><img src="https://cdn.britannica.com/24/197024-050-D5BE8126/Jacques-Chirac-2004.jpg?w=300" alt="Jacques Chirac" data-width="1600" data-height="1064" loading="eager"></picture><button class="magnifying-glass btn btn-circle position-absolute shadow btn-white top-10 right-10" aria-label="Zoom in"><em class="material-icons link-blue" data-icon="zoom_in"></em></button></a></div><figcaption class="card-body"><div class="md-assembly-caption text-muted font-14 font-serif line-clamp"><span><a class="gtm-assembly-link md-assembly-title font-weight-bold d-inline font-sans-serif mr-5 media-overlay-link" href="https://cdn.britannica.com/24/197024-050-D5BE8126/Jacques-Chirac-2004.jpg" data-href="/media/1/216231/228627">Jacques Chirac</a><span>Jacques Chirac, 2004.</span><button class="js-more-btn d-none btn btn-unstyled font-12 bg-white js-content" aria-label="Toggle more/less fact data"><span class="link-blue">(more)</span></button></span></div></figcaption></figure></div></div><p class="topic-paragraph">The right-of-centre triumph of 1995 did not last. In the anticipated elections that Chirac called in 1997, a Socialist majority swept back to power, and Jospin returned to head a coalition of Socialists, Communists, and Greens. Whereas the policies of Mitterrand’s second term had made concessions to the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/money/free-market" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">free market</a>, Chirac’s moderate prime minister, Alain Juppé (1995–97), made serious concessions to the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/money/welfare-state" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">welfare state</a>. Under Jospin, as under Juppé, <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="pragmatic" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pragmatic" data-type="MW">pragmatic</a> cohabitation struggled to maintain both economic growth and the social safety net. Privatization proceeded apace, inflation remained under control, and the introduction of the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/money/euro" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">euro</a> (the single European currency) in January 1999 boosted competition and investment. Yet unemployment stubbornly hovered around 12 percent in the last decade of the century, casting doubt on Jospin’s hope that growth and social progress would be <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="reconciled" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/reconciled" data-type="MW">reconciled</a>.</p><span class="marker MOD54 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD55 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">When France hosted and won the football (soccer) World Cup in 1998, however, it was a triumph not only for national sporting pride but for cohabitation at the highest levels, as it showcased multiracial cooperation on a winning squad made up of Arabs, Africans, and Europeans, reflecting France’s increasingly <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="diverse" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/diverse" data-type="MW">diverse</a> society.</p><span class="marker MOD55 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD56 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">In 2002 the RPR merged with other parties to create the centre-right Union for the Presidential Majority—later renamed the Union for a Popular Movement (Union pour un Mouvement Populaire; UMP)—which succeeded in securing Chirac’s reelection that year. Chirac easily defeated the extremist Le Pen, whose surprisingly strong showing in the first round of voting led Jospin to announce his resignation. No longer having to share power with the Socialists, Chirac named fellow Gaullist <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Jean-Pierre-Raffarin" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">Jean-Pierre Raffarin</a> to replace Jospin as prime minister. This socioeconomic balancing act remained in place, though, pitting the popularity of progressive social legislation against the difficulties of high taxes, restrictive <a href="https://www.britannica.com/money/social-security-government-program" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">social security</a> demands on employers, and <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off eb" data-term="precarious" href="https://www.britannica.com/dictionary/precarious" data-type="EB">precarious</a> funding for health and welfare projects.</p><span class="marker MOD56 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD57 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">France took the world spotlight in 2003, when the Chirac administration—believing the regime of Iraqi leader <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Saddam-Hussein" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">Ṣaddām Ḥussein</a> to be cooperating with <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/United-Nations" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">United Nations</a> inspectors searching for weapons of mass destruction—led several members of the UN Security Council in effectively blocking authorization of the use of force against Iraq. Although the French public largely agreed with Chirac on Iraq, the UMP suffered losses in both regional and European Parliament elections in 2004. The following year Chirac experienced a further loss of prestige when French voters rejected the ratification of a new European Union constitution, which he had strongly supported. In the aftermath of the failed vote, the president named his protégé <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Dominique-de-Villepin" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">Dominique de Villepin</a> to replace Raffarin as prime minister. He selected Villepin over his longtime rival <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Nicolas-Sarkozy" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Nicolas Sarkozy</a>, who then added the duties of interior minister to his job as head of the UMP.</p><span class="marker MOD57 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD58 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">Later in 2005, French pride in the country’s <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="diversity" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/diversity" data-type="MW">diversity</a> wavered when the accidental deaths of two immigrant teenagers sparked violence in Paris that spread rapidly to other parts of the country. Nearly 9,000 cars were torched and nearly 3,000 arrests made during the autumn riots, which were fueled by high unemployment, <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="discrimination" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/discrimination" data-type="MW">discrimination</a>, and lack of opportunity within the primarily North African immigrant community. In 2006, in a further illustration of widespread dissatisfaction with the government, more than a million people gathered around the country to protest a law that would have <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="facilitated" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/facilitated" data-type="MW">facilitated</a> the dismissal of young employees. Chirac, already suffering a sharp decline in popularity, was forced to suspend the law.</p><span class="marker MOD58 mod-inline"></span> </section> <section data-level="3" id="ref362084"> <h2 class="h3">The Sarkozy administration</h2> <span class="marker PREMOD59 mod-inline"></span><div class="assemblies"><div class="w-100"><figure class="md-assembly m-0 mb-md-0 card card-borderless print-false" data-assembly-id="219794" data-asm-type="image"><div class="md-assembly-wrapper card-media" data-type="image"><a href="https://cdn.britannica.com/21/194321-050-44D9E34A/Nicolas-Sarkozy-2007.jpg" class="gtm-assembly-link position-relative d-flex align-items-center justify-content-center media-overlay-link card-media" data-href="/media/1/216231/219794"><picture><source media="(min-width: 680px)" srcset="https://cdn.britannica.com/21/194321-050-44D9E34A/Nicolas-Sarkozy-2007.jpg?w=300"><img src="https://cdn.britannica.com/21/194321-050-44D9E34A/Nicolas-Sarkozy-2007.jpg?w=300" alt="Nicolas Sarkozy" data-width="1227" data-height="1600" loading="eager"></picture><button class="magnifying-glass btn btn-circle position-absolute shadow btn-white top-10 right-10" aria-label="Zoom in"><em class="material-icons link-blue" data-icon="zoom_in"></em></button></a></div><figcaption class="card-body"><div class="md-assembly-caption text-muted font-14 font-serif line-clamp"><span><a class="gtm-assembly-link md-assembly-title font-weight-bold d-inline font-sans-serif mr-5 media-overlay-link" href="https://cdn.britannica.com/21/194321-050-44D9E34A/Nicolas-Sarkozy-2007.jpg" data-href="/media/1/216231/219794">Nicolas Sarkozy</a><span>Nicolas Sarkozy, 2007.</span><button class="js-more-btn d-none btn btn-unstyled font-12 bg-white js-content" aria-label="Toggle more/less fact data"><span class="link-blue">(more)</span></button></span></div></figcaption></figure></div></div><p class="topic-paragraph">Although he was constitutionally eligible, Chirac chose not to run for president again in 2007. Echoing the public’s desire for change, the country’s two main political parties nominated a pair of relative newcomers to replace him. The Socialist Party selected <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Segolene-Royal" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Ségolène Royal</a>, a former adviser to Mitterrand, while Chirac’s rival Sarkozy easily won the nomination of the centre-right UMP. Both advanced to the second round of elections (Royal was the first woman ever to do so), in which Sarkozy won a <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off eb" data-term="decisive" href="https://www.britannica.com/dictionary/decisive" data-type="EB">decisive</a> victory. Although Socialists disparagingly likened Sarkozy to an American neoconservative, his supporters welcomed his promises to reduce unemployment, cut taxes, simplify the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/money/public-sector" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">public sector</a>, and toughen immigration and sentencing laws.</p><span class="marker MOD59 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD60 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">By 2010, however, high unemployment and economic uncertainty had contributed to growing dissatisfaction with Sarkozy and the UMP. Having fared poorly in French regional elections that March, the UMP retained control of only 1 of 22 <em>régions</em>, while the Socialists and their allies captured the remainder. That summer the French government’s proposed austerity measures, particularly a plan to raise the retirement age, prompted a nationwide strike and other protests; further strikes in the fall brought hundreds of thousands of people to the streets and wreaked <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="chaos" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/chaos" data-type="MW">chaos</a> in the country’s transportation networks. Sarkozy drew additional criticism, notably from the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/European-Union" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">European Union</a>, for the deportation of hundreds of Romanians and Bulgarians, most of whom were <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Rom" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Roma</a> (Gypsies) living in illegal camps.</p><span class="marker MOD60 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD61 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">In September 2010, following a July vote by the lower house of the French parliament, the Senate overwhelmingly approved legislation to outlaw face-concealing garments in public places. The ban did not explicitly refer to Islamic dress but was widely understood to target veils that fully covered a woman’s face. The law took effect in April 2011, with violators facing fines of €150.</p><span class="marker MOD61 mod-inline"></span> </section> </section> <section data-level="2" id="ref362085"> <h2 class="h2">The euro-zone crisis and the Socialist resurgence</h2> <section data-level="3" id="ref362086"> <h2 class="h3">The 2012 presidential campaign</h2> <span class="marker PREMOD62 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">French foreign and domestic policy throughout 2011 focused on the ongoing <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/euro-zone-debt-crisis" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">euro-zone debt crisis</a>, while support began to coalesce around a small group of candidates who were likely to contest the 2012 presidential race. <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Marine-Le-Pen" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Marine Le Pen</a> was chosen to succeed her father as the leader of the National Front, and her <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="populist" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/populist" data-type="MW">populist</a> appeal quickly made her a factor in the contest. <a href="https://www.britannica.com/money/Dominique-Strauss-Kahn" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Dominique Strauss-Kahn</a>, the director of the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/International-Monetary-Fund" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">International Monetary Fund</a>, who was presumed by many to be the likely Socialist candidate, was dramatically removed from <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="contention" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/contention" data-type="MW">contention</a> after he was arrested on sexual assault charges in <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/New-York-City" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">New York City</a> in May 2011. Although the charges were dropped several months later, the Socialists had already found a new candidate in former party leader <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Francois-Hollande" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">François Hollande</a>. Sarkozy, for his part, spent much of his time on international issues, acting as president of the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Group-of-Eight" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Group of Eight</a> and the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Group-of-20" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Group of 20</a>, as well as teaming with German Chancellor <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Angela-Merkel" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Angela Merkel</a> to try to halt the financial contagion that was spreading throughout Europe.</p><span class="marker MOD62 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD63 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">Sarkozy’s domestic economic policies contributed to a steady erosion of his support, as he proposed a series of <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off eb" data-term="austerity" href="https://www.britannica.com/dictionary/austerity" data-type="EB">austerity</a> measures that were intended to reduce France’s budget deficit. In a shock to Sarkozy’s administration, the Socialist Party and its allies won control of the Senate in September 2011. This represented the first time that the Socialists had held a majority in the indirectly elected upper house since the proclamation of the Fifth Republic in 1958.</p><span class="marker MOD63 mod-inline"></span> </section> <section data-level="3" id="ref362087"> <h2 class="h3">The Hollande administration</h2> <span class="marker PREMOD64 mod-inline"></span><div class="assemblies"><div class="w-100"><figure class="md-assembly m-0 mb-md-0 card card-borderless print-false" data-assembly-id="167443" data-asm-type="image"><div class="md-assembly-wrapper card-media" data-type="image"><a href="https://cdn.britannica.com/07/158607-050-F7DF2745/Francois-Hollande-2012.jpg" class="gtm-assembly-link position-relative d-flex align-items-center justify-content-center media-overlay-link card-media" data-href="/media/1/216231/167443"><picture><source media="(min-width: 680px)" srcset="https://cdn.britannica.com/07/158607-050-F7DF2745/Francois-Hollande-2012.jpg?w=300"><img src="https://cdn.britannica.com/07/158607-050-F7DF2745/Francois-Hollande-2012.jpg?w=300" alt="François Hollande" data-width="1600" data-height="1067" loading="eager"></picture><button class="magnifying-glass btn btn-circle position-absolute shadow btn-white top-10 right-10" aria-label="Zoom in"><em class="material-icons link-blue" data-icon="zoom_in"></em></button></a></div><figcaption class="card-body"><div class="md-assembly-caption text-muted font-14 font-serif line-clamp"><span><a class="gtm-assembly-link md-assembly-title font-weight-bold d-inline font-sans-serif mr-5 media-overlay-link" href="https://cdn.britannica.com/07/158607-050-F7DF2745/Francois-Hollande-2012.jpg" data-href="/media/1/216231/167443">François Hollande</a><span>François Hollande, 2012.</span><button class="js-more-btn d-none btn btn-unstyled font-12 bg-white js-content" aria-label="Toggle more/less fact data"><span class="link-blue">(more)</span></button></span></div></figcaption></figure></div></div><p class="topic-paragraph">Hollande secured his position as the Socialist candidate in France’s first-ever open primary in October 2011, and he went on to top a field of 10 candidates in the first round of the presidential election in April 2012. In that contest Le Pen led the National Front to its best-ever performance in a presidential election, capturing more than 18 percent of the vote for a strong third-place finish. Sarkozy, who finished second, qualified for a <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off eb" data-term="runoff" href="https://www.britannica.com/dictionary/runoff" data-type="EB">runoff</a> against Hollande, and he spent the next two weeks courting the National Front voters who represented his best chance at victory. On May 6, 2012, Hollande defeated Sarkozy, capturing almost 52 percent of the vote and becoming the first Socialist to win a presidential election since Mitterrand bested Chirac in 1988. One month later the sweep was made complete when the Socialist bloc captured 314 seats in the National Assembly, giving it a clear majority in the lower house. Although Marine Le Pen narrowly lost her bid for a seat in the legislature, two other National Front candidates were victorious, and the party returned to parliament for the first time since 1997.</p><span class="marker MOD64 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD65 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">Within hours of his inauguration, Hollande flew to Berlin to meet with Merkel about Franco-German strategy regarding the euro-zone crisis. He endeavoured to shift the emphasis of the response from austerity to growth, but the March 2012 EU fiscal pact reduced the ability of signatory countries to embark on stimulus programs funded by deficit spending. In subsequent meetings, Hollande continued to place growth at the forefront of the economic agenda. On the domestic front, Hollande quickly made good on several promises made during the presidential campaign. He <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="implemented" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/implemented" data-type="MW">implemented</a> a 75 percent tax rate on incomes above €1 million (about $1.3 million) and accelerated plans for the withdrawal of French troops from the NATO mission in Afghanistan. Although the “millionaires’ tax” was overturned by France’s Constitutional Court in December 2012, the proposal remained popular with the French public, and Hollande vowed to resubmit the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/money/tax-law" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">tax law</a> in an <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="amended" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/amended" data-type="MW">amended</a> form. With his administration beset with declining approval ratings, Hollande struggled with an <a href="https://www.britannica.com/money/unemployment-rate" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">unemployment rate</a> that topped 10 percent. His attempts to foster growth with pro-business measures rankled his supporters on the left, and his tax policies sparked resistance from the right. In March 2013 he announced an amended form of his “millionaires’ tax” that would collect the tax in question from companies rather than individuals. On April 23, 2013, the National Assembly voted convincingly to legalize <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/same-sex-marriage" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">same-sex marriage</a> and conferred the right to adopt on same-sex couples.</p><span class="marker MOD65 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD66 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">Despite Hollande’s efforts, France’s economy continued to struggle. Concerns about a jobless recovery were heightened as the unemployment rate crept stubbornly upward despite the country’s slow movement out of recession. While his <a href="https://www.britannica.com/money/economic-planning" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">economic policy</a> failed to gain <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off eb" data-term="traction" href="https://www.britannica.com/dictionary/traction" data-type="EB">traction</a>, Hollande pursued a hawkish foreign policy. French troops intervened in <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Mali" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Mali</a> in January and in the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Central-African-Republic" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Central African Republic</a> in December 2013. Hollande also pushed for Western military intervention in the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/event/Syrian-Civil-War" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Syrian Civil War</a> after <a href="https://www.britannica.com/technology/chemical-weapon" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">chemical weapons</a> were used on a rebel-held area outside Damascus. Faced with wavering support from the United States and Britain, Hollande backed a diplomatic initiative that led to the dismantling of Syria’s chemical arsenal.</p><span class="marker MOD66 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD67 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">The successes of the so-called “Hollande doctrine”—which sought to position France in a more prominent place on the global stage—did not translate into popular support, as evidenced in municipal elections in March 2014. Hollande’s Socialists were crushed, whereas the UMP and the National Front picked up scores of mayoral offices and hundreds of city council seats. Record low voter turnout was seen as symptomatic of <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="apathy" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/apathy" data-type="MW">apathy</a> among Socialist supporters, while Le Pen’s continued rebranding of the National Front led to that party’s best-ever electoral showing. Hollande responded by reshuffling his cabinet, replacing Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault with interior minister Manuel Valls, a centrist whose sometimes controversial views found support among the French right. The National Front’s ascent continued in May, when it topped the polls in the election for the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/European-Parliament" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">European Parliament</a>.</p><span class="marker MOD67 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD68 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">The French economy continued to lag, with unemployment topping 11 percent in July 2014, and Valls faced a revolt within his own cabinet. In August 2014 economic minister Arnaud Montebourg, who had long advocated a program of growth over austerity, was sacked after publicly criticizing Hollande’s economic policy. Valls announced the resignation of his cabinet, and Hollande promptly asked him to form a new government. While Hollande’s popularity languished, scandals within the UMP limited the party’s ability to capitalize on the president’s weakness. Sarkozy, in an effort to right the listing party and launch his own political comeback, successfully won the leadership of the UMP at a party congress in November 2014.</p><span class="marker MOD68 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD69 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">On January 7, 2015, gunmen attacked the Paris offices of the satirical publication <em>Charlie Hebdo</em>, killing 12 people. The <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/terrorism" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">terrorist</a> action was the bloodiest such incident on French soil in more than 50 years, and it was believed that the magazine had been targeted for its portrayal of the Prophet <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Muhammad" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Muhammad</a>. As French authorities <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off eb" data-term="embarked" href="https://www.britannica.com/dictionary/embarked" data-type="EB">embarked</a> on a nationwide manhunt, world leaders condemned the attacks, and thousands converged on city centres throughout France to demonstrate their solidarity with the victims. On January 9 the suspected gunmen, two brothers who were known to U.S. and French authorities for their connections to militant Islamist groups, fled to a printing plant in a small town northeast of Paris, where they took a hostage and engaged in a standoff with police. Meanwhile, another gunman, who claimed to be working in concert with the others and who was suspected of killing a police officer in Montrouge the previous day, seized hostages at a kosher <a href="https://www.britannica.com/money/supermarket" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">grocery store</a> in Paris. After several hours, French security forces stormed both locations, killing all three gunmen. The hostage at the printing plant was freed safely. Four hostages were killed at the market, but more than a dozen were rescued.</p><span class="marker MOD69 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD70 mod-inline"></span><div class="assemblies"><div class="w-100"><figure class="md-assembly m-0 mb-md-0 card card-borderless print-false" data-assembly-id="203751" data-asm-type="image"><div class="md-assembly-wrapper card-media" data-type="image"><a href="https://cdn.britannica.com/39/186939-050-3D4BC3B8/sites-terrorist-attacks-Paris-November-13-2015.jpg" class="gtm-assembly-link position-relative d-flex align-items-center justify-content-center media-overlay-link card-media" data-href="/media/1/216231/203751"><picture><source media="(min-width: 680px)" srcset="https://cdn.britannica.com/39/186939-050-3D4BC3B8/sites-terrorist-attacks-Paris-November-13-2015.jpg"><img src="https://cdn.britannica.com/39/186939-050-3D4BC3B8/sites-terrorist-attacks-Paris-November-13-2015.jpg?w=300" alt="Paris attacks of 2015" data-width="1600" data-height="1440" loading="eager"></picture><button class="magnifying-glass btn btn-circle position-absolute shadow btn-white top-10 right-10" aria-label="Zoom in"><em class="material-icons link-blue" data-icon="zoom_in"></em></button></a></div><figcaption class="card-body"><div class="md-assembly-caption text-muted font-14 font-serif line-clamp"><span><a class="gtm-assembly-link md-assembly-title font-weight-bold d-inline font-sans-serif mr-5 media-overlay-link" href="https://cdn.britannica.com/39/186939-050-3D4BC3B8/sites-terrorist-attacks-Paris-November-13-2015.jpg" data-href="/media/1/216231/203751">Paris attacks of 2015</a><span>Significant sites related to the terrorist attacks in Paris on November 13, 2015.</span><button class="js-more-btn d-none btn btn-unstyled font-12 bg-white js-content" aria-label="Toggle more/less fact data"><span class="link-blue">(more)</span></button></span></div></figcaption></figure></div></div><p class="topic-paragraph">On November 13, 2015, coordinated teams of gunmen armed with automatic weapons and explosive belts attacked targets in and around Paris, killing at least 129 people and injuring hundreds. It was the deadliest terrorist incident in Europe since the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/event/Madrid-train-bombings-of-2004" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">2004 Madrid train bombings</a>. Three attackers blew themselves up outside the Stade de France in the Paris suburb of <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Saint-Denis-France" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Saint-Denis</a>; Hollande was among the thousands of people inside the stadium watching an <a href="https://www.britannica.com/sports/football-soccer" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">association football</a> (soccer) match between France and Germany. In Paris dozens were killed when Islamist militants opened fire on crowded cafés and restaurants in the 10th and 11th <em>arrondissements</em> (municipal districts). At least 89 people were killed when a trio of gunmen attacked the Bataclan music <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="venue" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/venue" data-type="MW">venue</a>, where the American rock band Eagles of Death Metal were playing before a sold-out crowd. The attackers occupied the Bataclan for more than two hours, holding hostages and shooting survivors of the initial assault, before French police stormed the building. Two of the attackers detonated suicide belts and the third was killed by police. The <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Islamic-State-in-Iraq-and-the-Levant" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant</a> (ISIL; also known as ISIS) claimed responsibility for the attacks, and Hollande declared that France was “at war” with the group. Over subsequent days, French jets bombed targets in ISIL-held areas in Syria and Iraq, more than 100,000 security personnel were mobilized, and police raided scores of locations across France and Belgium in search of suspected <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off eb" data-term="accomplices" href="https://www.britannica.com/dictionary/accomplices" data-type="EB">accomplices</a>.</p><span class="marker MOD70 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD71 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">On July 14, 2016, at least 84 people were killed and scores were injured in France’s third major terrorist attack in 18 months, when a <a href="https://www.britannica.com/technology/truck-vehicle" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">truck</a> was driven through revelers celebrating <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Bastille-Day" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Bastille Day</a> in <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Nice" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Nice</a>. Tens of thousands had gathered along the city’s beachfront Promenade des Anglais to view a fireworks display, and the crowd had just begun to disperse at the time of the attack. The truck traveled roughly a mile (2 km) down the promenade, plowing through barricades and into a designated pedestrian zone, striking hundreds of people before it was brought to a halt. The driver, who had a history of <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off eb" data-term="petty" href="https://www.britannica.com/dictionary/petty" data-type="EB">petty</a> crime but no known association with terrorist groups, was killed in a gun battle with police. Hours before the attack, Hollande had announced the planned lifting of the state of emergency that existed since the November 2015 attacks; he subsequently extended the state of emergency for an additional three months and called up the country’s military reserves.</p><span class="marker MOD71 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD72 mod-inline"></span><div class="assemblies"><div class="w-100"><figure class="md-assembly m-0 mb-md-0 card card-borderless print-false" data-assembly-id="199984" data-asm-type="image"><div class="md-assembly-wrapper card-media" data-type="image"><a href="https://cdn.britannica.com/05/181405-050-782968CE/Marine-Le-Pen-Jean-Marie-rally-party-National-May-1-2014.jpg" class="gtm-assembly-link position-relative d-flex align-items-center justify-content-center media-overlay-link card-media" data-href="/media/1/216231/199984"><picture><source media="(min-width: 680px)" srcset="https://cdn.britannica.com/05/181405-050-782968CE/Marine-Le-Pen-Jean-Marie-rally-party-National-May-1-2014.jpg?w=300"><img src="https://cdn.britannica.com/05/181405-050-782968CE/Marine-Le-Pen-Jean-Marie-rally-party-National-May-1-2014.jpg?w=300" alt="National Front" data-width="1600" data-height="1058" loading="eager"></picture><button class="magnifying-glass btn btn-circle position-absolute shadow btn-white top-10 right-10" aria-label="Zoom in"><em class="material-icons link-blue" data-icon="zoom_in"></em></button></a></div><figcaption class="card-body"><div class="md-assembly-caption text-muted font-14 font-serif line-clamp"><span><a class="gtm-assembly-link md-assembly-title font-weight-bold d-inline font-sans-serif mr-5 media-overlay-link" href="https://cdn.britannica.com/05/181405-050-782968CE/Marine-Le-Pen-Jean-Marie-rally-party-National-May-1-2014.jpg" data-href="/media/1/216231/199984">National Front</a><span>National Front leader Marine Le Pen (middle) and her father, Jean-Marie Le Pen (left), at the party's annual rally in Paris, several weeks before the group placed first in France's elections for the European Parliament, May 2014.</span><button class="js-more-btn d-none btn btn-unstyled font-12 bg-white js-content" aria-label="Toggle more/less fact data"><span class="link-blue">(more)</span></button></span></div></figcaption></figure></div></div><p class="topic-paragraph">With Hollande’s approval ratings dipping into the single digits, he announced in December 2016 that he would not seek reelection. Days later, Hollande’s prime minister, Manuel Valls, resigned his post and declared his intention to pursue the Socialist nomination for the presidency. The presidential race had already experienced one surprise, when the Republicans (formerly the UMP) resoundingly closed the door on Nicolas Sarkozy’s political <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off eb" data-term="comeback" href="https://www.britannica.com/dictionary/comeback" data-type="EB">comeback</a> ambitions. Sarkozy finished a distant third in the first round of the Republican presidential primary in November. That race was won by Sarkozy’s former prime minister, François Fillon, a standard-bearer for France’s right-leaning provincial Roman Catholic population. Polls suggested that he likely would face the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/National-Rally-France" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">National Front</a>’s (now National Rally) <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Marine-Le-Pen" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Marine Le Pen</a> in the second round of the presidential election in May 2017.</p><span class="marker MOD72 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD73 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">Fillon’s campaign collapsed amid accusations that he had created fake jobs for members of his family, and in March 2017 both he and his wife were charged with the embezzlement of nearly $1 million in public funds. The presidential race essentially became a three-way contest between outsider candidates: Le Pen, former <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/communist-party-politics" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">Communist Party</a> presidential candidate Jean-Luc Mélenchon, and Hollande’s finance minister, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Emmanuel-Macron" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Emmanuel Macron</a>. Macron had formed his own political party—En Marche!—in April 2016, with a platform that echoed the “<a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/third-way" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">third way</a>” policies of British Prime Minister <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Tony-Blair" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Tony Blair</a>. As the left and right wings of the major parties <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="accrued" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/accrued" data-type="MW">accrued</a> to Mélenchon and Le Pen accordingly, Macron peeled away the centrists, earning endorsements from former Socialist prime minister Manuel Valls and former UMP prime minister Alain Juppé.</p><span class="marker MOD73 mod-inline"></span> </section> <section data-level="3" id="ref362088"> <h2 class="h3">The Macron presidency</h2> <span class="marker PREMOD74 mod-inline"></span><div class="assemblies"><div class="w-100"><figure class="md-assembly m-0 mb-md-0 card card-borderless print-false" data-assembly-id="224106" data-asm-type="image"><div class="md-assembly-wrapper card-media" data-type="image"><a href="https://cdn.britannica.com/74/195374-050-A7B13DCA/Emmanuel-Macron-2017.jpg" class="gtm-assembly-link position-relative d-flex align-items-center justify-content-center media-overlay-link card-media" data-href="/media/1/216231/224106"><picture><source media="(min-width: 680px)" srcset="https://cdn.britannica.com/74/195374-050-A7B13DCA/Emmanuel-Macron-2017.jpg?w=300"><img src="https://cdn.britannica.com/74/195374-050-A7B13DCA/Emmanuel-Macron-2017.jpg?w=300" alt="Emmanuel Macron" data-width="1600" data-height="1067" loading="eager"></picture><button class="magnifying-glass btn btn-circle position-absolute shadow btn-white top-10 right-10" aria-label="Zoom in"><em class="material-icons link-blue" data-icon="zoom_in"></em></button></a></div><figcaption class="card-body"><div class="md-assembly-caption text-muted font-14 font-serif line-clamp"><span><a class="gtm-assembly-link md-assembly-title font-weight-bold d-inline font-sans-serif mr-5 media-overlay-link" href="https://cdn.britannica.com/74/195374-050-A7B13DCA/Emmanuel-Macron-2017.jpg" data-href="/media/1/216231/224106">Emmanuel Macron</a><span>French Pres. Emmanuel Macron, 2017.</span><button class="js-more-btn d-none btn btn-unstyled font-12 bg-white js-content" aria-label="Toggle more/less fact data"><span class="link-blue">(more)</span></button></span></div></figcaption></figure></div></div><p class="topic-paragraph">The first round of the presidential election was held in April 2017, and, for the first time in the history of the Fifth Republic, both of France’s mainstream parties were shut out of the second-round runoff. An eleventh-hour online information dump, dubbed “MacronLeaks,” was attributed to the same Russian hackers who had attempted to influence the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/United-States-presidential-election-of-2016" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">2016 U.S. presidential election</a>, but it failed to significantly affect the result. Macron and Le Pen advanced to the second round, held on May 7, with Macron winning a convincing victory to become France’s youngest leader since <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Napoleon-I" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Napoleon</a>. The following month Macron’s En Marche! secured a commanding majority in parliamentary elections. The <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off eb" data-term="coalition" href="https://www.britannica.com/dictionary/coalition" data-type="EB">coalition</a> of En Marche! and François Bayrou’s Democratic Movement (MoDem) held 350 of 577 seats. Women composed a record 39 percent of the National Assembly, but the election was marred by the lowest voter turnout in a French parliamentary election since World War II.</p><span class="marker MOD74 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD75 mod-inline"></span><div class="assemblies"><div class="w-100"><figure class="md-assembly m-0 mb-md-0 card card-borderless print-false" data-assembly-id="277285" data-asm-type="image"><div class="md-assembly-wrapper card-media" data-type="image"><a href="https://cdn.britannica.com/28/235628-050-0390BCA1/Emmanuel-Macro-Angela-Merkel-French-German-Compiegne-100th-Anniversary.jpg" class="gtm-assembly-link position-relative d-flex align-items-center justify-content-center media-overlay-link card-media" data-href="/media/1/216231/277285"><picture><source media="(min-width: 680px)" srcset="https://cdn.britannica.com/28/235628-050-0390BCA1/Emmanuel-Macro-Angela-Merkel-French-German-Compiegne-100th-Anniversary.jpg?w=300"><img src="https://cdn.britannica.com/28/235628-050-0390BCA1/Emmanuel-Macro-Angela-Merkel-French-German-Compiegne-100th-Anniversary.jpg?w=300" alt="Angela Merkel and Emmanuel Macron" data-width="1600" data-height="1079" loading="eager"></picture><button class="magnifying-glass btn btn-circle position-absolute shadow btn-white top-10 right-10" aria-label="Zoom in"><em class="material-icons link-blue" data-icon="zoom_in"></em></button></a></div><figcaption class="card-body"><div class="md-assembly-caption text-muted font-14 font-serif line-clamp"><span><a class="gtm-assembly-link md-assembly-title font-weight-bold d-inline font-sans-serif mr-5 media-overlay-link" href="https://cdn.britannica.com/28/235628-050-0390BCA1/Emmanuel-Macro-Angela-Merkel-French-German-Compiegne-100th-Anniversary.jpg" data-href="/media/1/216231/277285">Angela Merkel and Emmanuel Macron</a><span>German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French Pres. Emmanuel Macron holding hands at a ceremony commemorating the 100th anniversary of the World War I armistice, at the site of the signing of the armistice in the forest of Compiègne, France, 2018.</span><button class="js-more-btn d-none btn btn-unstyled font-12 bg-white js-content" aria-label="Toggle more/less fact data"><span class="link-blue">(more)</span></button></span></div></figcaption></figure></div></div><p class="topic-paragraph">Macron quickly became a presence on the world stage. He established an unlikely friendship with U.S. Pres. <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Donald-Trump" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Donald Trump</a> but worked to preserve both the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Paris-Agreement-2015" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Paris Climate Agreement</a> and the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Joint-Comprehensive-Plan-of-Action" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">Iran nuclear deal</a>, two measures that the American president opposed. Macron’s growing influence abroad did little to bolster his domestic approval, however. In an effort to attract foreign investment, he enacted a tax regime that benefited France’s wealthiest citizens, earning him the nickname <em>président des riches</em> (“president of the rich”). Public criticism of Macron sharply intensified in November 2018, when demonstrators took to the streets in opposition to a proposed fuel tax increase. The protesters, who came to be called <em>gilets jaunes</em> (“yellow vests”) after the bright traffic safety vests they wore, were broadly supported by the French public, and Macron was eventually forced to withdraw the fuel tax. The country briefly rallied around Macron in April 2019, when a fire seriously damaged Paris’s <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="iconic" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/iconic" data-type="MW">iconic</a> <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Notre-Dame-de-Paris" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Notre-Dame Cathedral</a>. Macron vowed that the cathedral would be rebuilt, and he launched a fundraising campaign that brought in hundreds of millions of dollars in donations from around the world.</p><span class="marker MOD75 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD76 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">Macron’s agenda had included curbs on government spending—he famously quipped that there was no “magic money” to spend on services without a corresponding increase in government revenues—but he was forced to put aside these measures when his administration was faced with the greatest global <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/public-health" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">public health</a> challenge in a century. The <a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/coronavirus-virus-group" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">coronavirus</a> SARS-CoV-2 pandemic caused a sharp economic contraction as France locked down nonessential businesses and restricted travel, but the country recovered relatively quickly. Although more than 25 million people in France contracted <a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/COVID-19" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">COVID-19</a>, the potentially deadly disease caused by the virus, the country’s high rate of <a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/COVID-19-vaccine" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">vaccination</a> and its <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="robust" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/robust" data-type="MW">robust</a> jobs retention scheme spared France from the high death rates and lingering unemployment that were evident elsewhere.</p><span class="marker MOD76 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD77 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">In spite of his administration’s largely effective response to the pandemic, Macron’s approval rating consistently hovered around 40 percent, and his low polling numbers were reflected in the results of the 2021 regional elections. En Marche! failed to capture a single region, while the resurgent Republicans and Socialists dominated across the country. That election saw another record low turnout: just one-third of all eligible voters went to the polls.</p><span class="marker MOD77 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD78 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">Voter apathy remained a concern during the 2022 presidential campaign, and Macron struggled to mobilize his remaining supporters. The first round, held on April 10, 2022, was a virtual repeat of the 2017 contest, as Macron captured almost 28 percent of the vote and Le Pen won 23 percent. Mélenchon finished third, with 22 percent, and, although he stopped short of a full <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off eb" data-term="endorsement" href="https://www.britannica.com/dictionary/endorsement" data-type="EB">endorsement</a> of Macron in the second round, he urged his supporters to “not give a single vote” to Le Pen. In the runoff, held on April 24, Macron secured a second term with more than 58 percent of the vote.</p><span class="marker MOD78 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD79 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">Macron continued to occupy a prominent place on the European stage, and he tried to act as a mediator between Moscow and Kyiv during the ongoing <a href="https://www.britannica.com/event/2022-Russian-invasion-of-Ukraine" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Russian invasion of Ukraine</a>. His reelection did little to bolster his domestic approval, and, in legislative elections in June 2022, his centrist coalition lost its majority in the National Assembly. Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne submitted her resignation to Macron, but he rejected it, <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off eb" data-term="citing" href="https://www.britannica.com/dictionary/citing" data-type="EB">citing</a> a need for his government to “stay on task and act.” The following month Borne easily survived a <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/vote-of-confidence" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">vote of confidence</a>, but Macron was unable to bring any opposition parties into his coalition, and he ultimately found himself presiding over a minority government.</p><span class="marker MOD79 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD80 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">In October 2022 Macron was forced to trigger Article 49.3 of the French constitution to pass a budget bill without the approval of the National Assembly. After the comparative instability of governments of the Fourth Republic (1946–58), Article 49.3 was one of the measures included in the constitution of the Fifth Republic (1958– ) to ensure the primacy of the president. The executive mechanism, which effectively allowed the president to bypass the legislature, saw little use outside of divided (“cohabitation”) or minority governments, however, and opposition parties <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off eb" data-term="decried" href="https://www.britannica.com/dictionary/decried" data-type="EB">decried</a> its invocation as anti-democratic. Macron used Article 49.3 again in March 2023 when he pushed through a controversial pension reform package that would raise the retirement age from 62 to 64 by 2030. The failure of two motions of no-confidence against Macron’s government meant that the pension reform bill became law.</p><span class="marker MOD80 mod-inline"></span> </section> </section> </section> <span class="md-signature font-12"><a href="/editor/The-Editors-of-Encyclopaedia-Britannica/4419">The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica</a></span> <span class="marker end-of-content"></span><span class="marker after-article"></span></div> <div id="chatbot-simplify-root"></div> <div id="chatbot-root"></div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="ai-dialog-placeholder"></div> </div> </div> <aside class="col-md-da-320"></aside> </div> </div> </div> </div> </article> </div> </div> </div> </div> </main> <div id="md-footer"></div> <noscript><iframe src="//www.googletagmanager.com/ns.html?id=GTM-5W6NC8" height="0" width="0" style="display:none;visibility:hidden"></iframe></noscript> <script type="text/javascript" id="_informizely_script_tag"> var IzWidget = IzWidget || {}; (function (d) { var scriptElement = d.createElement('script'); scriptElement.type = 'text/javascript'; scriptElement.async = true; scriptElement.src = "https://insitez.blob.core.windows.net/site/f780f33e-a610-4ac2-af81-3eb184037547.js"; var node = d.getElementById('_informizely_script_tag'); node.parentNode.insertBefore(scriptElement, node); } )(document); </script>  <script> window.ap3c = window.ap3c || {}; var ap3c = window.ap3c; ap3c.cmd = ap3c.cmd || []; ap3c.cmd.push(function() { ap3c.init('ZO4siT4cLwnykPnzZWJtd3Byb2Q', 'https://engage.email.britannica.com/'); ap3c.track({v: 0}); }); ap3c.activity = function(act) { ap3c.act = (ap3c.act || []); ap3c.act.push(act); }; var s, t; s = document.createElement('script'); s.type = 'text/javascript'; s.src = "https://engage.email.britannica.com/app.js"; t = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; t.parentNode.insertBefore(s, t); </script> <script class="marketing-page-info" type="application/json"> {"pageType":"Topic","templateName":"DESKTOP","pageNumber":8,"pagesTotal":8,"pageId":216231,"pageLength":10151,"initialLoad":true,"lastPageOfScroll":false} </script> <script class="marketing-content-info" type="application/json"> [] </script> <script src="https://cdn.britannica.com/mendel-resources/3-133/js/libs/jquery-3.5.0.min.js?v=3.133.36"></script> <script type="text/javascript" data-type="Init Mendel Code Splitting"> (function() { $.ajax({ dataType: 'script', cache: true, url: 'https://cdn.britannica.com/mendel-resources/3-133/dist/topic-page.js?v=3.133.36' }); })(); </script> <script class="analytics-metadata" type="application/json"> {"leg":"B","adLeg":"B","userType":"ANONYMOUS","pageType":"Topic","pageSubtype":null,"articleTemplateType":"PAGINATED","gisted":false,"pageNumber":8,"hasSummarizeButton":false,"hasAskButton":true} </script> <script type="text/javascript"> EBStat={accountId:-1,hostnameOverride:'webstats.eb.com',domain:'www.britannica.com', json:''}; </script> <script type="text/javascript"> ( function() { $.ajax( { dataType: 'script', cache: true, url: '//www.britannica.com/webstats/mendelstats.js?v=1' } ) .done( function() { try {writeStat(null,EBStat);} catch(err){} } ); })(); </script> <div id="bc-fixed-dialogue"></div> </body> </html>